Shloka 21

Droṇa’s Withdrawal, Death, and the Kaurava Rout (द्रोणनिधन-प्रसङ्गः)

Devanagari script

गदाश्न शैक्या: परिधघाश्न शुभ्रा रथेषु शक्‍्त्यश्न विवर्तमाना: । प्रतिप्रभारश्मिभिराजमीढ पुनः पुन: संजनयन्ति दीपान्‌,अजमीढकुलनन्दन! वहाँ जो गदाएँ, शैक्य, चमकीले परिघ तथा रथ-शक्तियाँ घुमायी जा रही थीं, उनमें जो उन मशालोंकी प्रभाएँ प्रतिबिम्बित होती थीं, वे मानो पुन:-पुनः बहुत- से नूतन प्रदीप प्रकट करती थीं

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca |

gadāś ca śaikyāḥ parighāś ca śubhrā rathyeṣu śaktyo vivartamānāḥ |

pratiprabhāraśmibhir ājamīḍha punaḥ punaḥ sañjanayanti dīpān ||

ajāmiḍhakulanandana |

Translation

Sañjaya dit : «Ô descendant d’Ajāmīḍha, tandis que l’on faisait tournoyer les masses, les armes śaikya, les lourds gourdins de fer éclatants (parigha) et les lances des chars, la lueur des torches, frappant ces armes et s’y reflétant, semblait, encore et encore, allumer d’innombrables lampes nouvelles.»

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'sañjaya uvāca', 'definition': 'Sañjaya said (narrator addressing Dhṛtarāṣṭra).'}, {'term': 'gadā', 'definition': 'mace

• a heavy bludgeoning weapon.'}, {'term': 'śaikya', 'definition': 'a kind of weapon (often taken as a dart/javelin or a specific missile-weapon)

• here listed among battlefield arms.'}, {'term': 'parigha', 'definition': 'iron club/bar

• a heavy striking weapon.'}, {'term': 'śubhra', 'definition': 'bright, shining, white (gleaming).'}, {'term': 'rathyeṣu śaktyaḥ', 'definition': 'spears/javelins used from chariots (ratha-mounted weapons).'}, {'term': 'vivartamānāḥ', 'definition': 'being whirled/turned about, spinning in motion.'}, {'term': 'pratiprabhā-raśmi', 'definition': 'rays of reflected light

• counter-shining beams.'}, {'term': 'punaḥ punaḥ', 'definition': 'again and again

• repeatedly.'}, {'term': 'sañjanayanti', 'definition': 'they generate/produce, they cause to arise.'}, {'term': 'dīpān', 'definition': 'lamps/lights

• here, metaphorically, new points of flame-like brilliance.'}, {'term': 'ajāmiḍha', 'definition': 'Ajāmīḍha (ancestral figure of the Kuru line)

• an epithet used to address Dhṛtarāṣṭra as his descendant.'}, {'term': 'ajāmiḍha-kula-nandana', 'definition': '“delight of Ajāmīḍha’s lineage,” i.e., Dhṛtarāṣṭra.'}]

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Ajāmīḍha (ancestral reference)
• Ajāmīḍha-kula (Kuru lineage, by epithet)
• gadā (mace)
• śaikya (weapon)
• parigha (iron club/bar)
• śakti (spear/javelin)
• ratha (chariot, implied by rathyeṣu)
• dīpa (lamps/torches, as imagery)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse offers a moral-psychological contrast: war can appear dazzling and even beautiful through spectacle (reflected torchlight on weapons), yet that radiance is produced by instruments of harm. It implicitly cautions against being ethically numbed by the glamour of violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the night-battle scene to Dhṛtarāṣṭra: warriors whirl maces, clubs, and chariot-spears, and the torchlight reflecting off these moving weapons looks like many new lamps flaring up repeatedly across the field.