Shloka 6
द्रोण–धृष्टद्युम्नयुद्धवर्णनम्
Drona–Dhrishtadyumna Battle Description
सहस्र मुसलेनाहन् सहस्रमसिनावधीत् | उद्बन्धनात् सहस्नं च सहस्रमुदके धृतम्,उन्होंने एक सहस्र क्षत्रियोंको मूसलसे मार गिराया, एक सहस्र राजपूतोंको तलवारसे काट डाला, फिर एक सहस क्षत्रियोंको वृक्षोंकी शाखाओंमें फाँसीपर लटकाकर मार डाला और पुन: एक सहसख्रको पानीमें डुबो दिया
sahasraṃ musalenāhan sahasram asināvadhīt | udbandhanāt sahasraṃ ca sahasram udake dhṛtam ||
Nārada said: “With a mace he struck down a thousand; with a sword he slew another thousand. A further thousand he killed by hanging them from above, and yet another thousand he caused to be held under water (and drowned).” The verse underscores the escalating brutality of violence and the moral collapse that can accompany unchecked wrath and power, even when narrated as a tally of battlefield ‘feats’.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as a stark moral warning: when violence becomes a matter of counting bodies and inventing harsher methods, it signals a fall from dharma into cruelty. It invites reflection on how power and anger can normalize atrocity and generate grave karmic consequences.
Nārada is describing a figure’s mass killings in four successive modes—by mace, by sword, by hanging, and by drowning—presented as a grim enumeration of slaughter rather than a heroic deed.