भीष्मपर्व — अध्याय ७२: सैन्यगुणवर्णनम्, व्यूहरक्षा, दैव-पुरुषकारचिन्ता
द्रोणभीष्मौ तु संक़्रुद्धावापतन्ती महाबलौ | प्रत्युद्ययौ शिखण्डी तु महेष्वासो महाहवे
droṇabhīṣmau tu saṅkruddhāv āpatantī mahābalau | pratyudyayau śikhaṇḍī tu maheṣvāso mahāhave ||
Sañjaya said: Enraged, the mighty warriors Droṇa and Bhīṣma charged forward. In that great battle, Śikhaṇḍī—an eminent archer—advanced to meet them in counter-attack, as the conflict pressed toward its most fateful confrontations.
संजय उवाच
The verse highlights the moral complexity of kṣatriya duty: even revered elders and teachers, driven by wrath and allegiance, rush into violence, while opponents meet them with resolve. It frames war as a field where personal bonds, vows, and ethical limits are tested under pressure.
Droṇa and Bhīṣma, angered, surge forward to attack. Śikhaṇḍī, famed as a great archer, advances to confront them in the thick of the great battle—an important movement toward the later confrontation involving Bhīṣma.