Shloka 17
Droṇa’s Conditional Boon: The Plan to Capture Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रोणेन युधिष्ठिरग्रहणोपायः)
काम्बोजान् वाटधानांश्व चोलान् पाण्ड्यांश्व॒ संजय । त्रिगर्तान् मालवांश्वैव दरदांश्व॒ सुदुर्जयान्,संजय! इसी प्रकार कमलनयन श्रीकृष्णने अवन्ती, दक्षिण प्रान्त, पर्वतीय देश, दशेरक, काश्मीर, औरसिक, पिशाच, मुद्गल, काम्बोज, वाटधान, चोल, पाण्डब, त्रिगर्त, मालव, अत्यन्त दुर्जय दरद आदि देशोंके योद्धाओंको तथा नाना दिशाओंसे आये हुए खशों, शकों और अनुयायियों-सहित कालयवनको भी जीत लिया
Vaiśampāyana uvāca—Kāmbojān vāṭadhānāṁś ca colān pāṇḍyāṁś ca, sañjaya; trigartān mālavāṁś caiva daradāṁś ca sudurjayān.
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Sañjaya, (he subdued) the Kāmbojas and the Vāṭadhānas, the Coḷas and the Pāṇḍyas; the Trigartas and the Mālavas as well, and the Daradas—peoples exceedingly hard to conquer.” The verse continues the account of Kṛṣṇa’s wide-ranging victories, portraying the consolidation of power across many regions as a prelude to the larger moral and political conflicts of the epic.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the epic’s view that political authority is established and tested through the subduing of powerful regions; such consolidation is ethically significant because it frames later conflicts as struggles over legitimate rule and the maintenance of dharma rather than mere personal rivalry.
Vaiśampāyana lists various peoples and kingdoms—Kāmbojas, Vāṭadhānas, Coḷas, Pāṇḍyas, Trigartas, Mālavas, and the formidable Daradas—describing their being overcome, as part of a broader catalogue of victories attributed (in the surrounding passage) to Śrī Kṛṣṇa.