Shloka 26

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

Devanagari script

महावने दारुमये प्रदीप्ते यथा प्रभा भास्करस्यापि नश्येत्‌ । तथा तदा<5<सीद्‌ ध्वजिनी प्रदीप्ता महाभया भारत भीमरूपा,भरतनन्दन! जैसे सूखे काठके विशाल वनमें आग लग जानेपर वहाँ सूर्यकी भी प्रभा फीकी पड़ जाती है, उसी प्रकार उस समय अधिक प्रकाशसे प्रज्वलित होती हुई-सी आपकी भयानक सेना महान्‌ भय उत्पन्न करनेवाली प्रतीत होती थी

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | mahāvane dārumaye pradīpte yathā prabhā bhāskarasyāpi naśyet | tathā tadāsīd dhvajinī pradīptā mahābhayā bhārata bhīmarūpā bharatanandana |

Translation

Sañjaya dit : «De même que, lorsqu’une vaste forêt de bois sec s’embrase, même l’éclat du soleil semble s’y éteindre, ainsi, en ce temps-là, ton armée—bien qu’elle parût comme illuminée d’une vive splendeur—apparaissait terrifiante, revêtant une forme effroyable et suscitant une grande peur, ô descendant de Bharata.»

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'mahāvane', 'gloss': 'in a great forest'}, {'term': 'dārumaye', 'gloss': 'made of wood

• consisting of timber (dry fuel)'}, {'term': 'pradīpte', 'gloss': 'when kindled

• blazing'}, {'term': 'yathā', 'gloss': 'just as'}, {'term': 'prabhā', 'gloss': 'radiance, splendor'}, {'term': 'bhāskarasya', 'gloss': 'of the sun'}, {'term': 'api', 'gloss': 'even'}, {'term': 'naśyet', 'gloss': 'would vanish

• would be obscured'}, {'term': 'tathā', 'gloss': 'so

• in the same way'}, {'term': 'tadā', 'gloss': 'then

• at that time'}, {'term': 'āsīt', 'gloss': 'was

• appeared'}, {'term': 'dhvajinī', 'gloss': 'army

• host (lit. ‘bannered force’)'}, {'term': 'pradīptā', 'gloss': 'blazing

• shining intensely'}, {'term': 'mahābhayā', 'gloss': 'causing great fear

• exceedingly dreadful'}, {'term': 'bhārata', 'gloss': 'O Bhārata (address to Dhṛtarāṣṭra)'}, {'term': 'bhīmarūpā', 'gloss': 'of terrible form

• frightful in appearance'}, {'term': 'bharatanandana', 'gloss': 'O joy of the Bharatas (honorific address)'}]

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied addressee: Bhārata/Bharatanandana)
• the Sun (Bhāskara)
• a great forest (mahāvana)
• the army (dhvajinī)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how overwhelming violence and mass destruction can eclipse even what is normally supreme (the sun’s radiance). Ethically, it underscores the dehumanizing scale of war: brilliance (power, weapons, formations) becomes inseparable from terror, reminding the listener that martial splendor often carries catastrophic fear and moral cost.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that, in the thick of the Drona-parvan battle, the Kaurava host appears intensely illuminated—yet in that very blaze it looks dreadful and fear-producing, like a vast dry forest on fire that makes even sunlight seem dim.