Shloka 20

Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 125: Duryodhana’s despair and vow after Jayadratha’s fall (जयद्रथवधे दुर्योधनविलापः)

Devanagari script

हत्वा पञज्चशतान्‌ योधान्‌ शरैराशीविषोपमै:

Transliteration

hatvā pañcaśatān yodhān śarair āśīviṣopamaiḥ

Translation

Sañjaya said: Having slain five hundred warriors with arrows like venomous serpents, he left the battlefield strewn with the fallen—an image of war’s swift, impersonal lethality, where prowess becomes inseparable from moral cost.

Word by Word

• हत्वा: having slain
• Type: Verb
• Root: हन् (√हन्)
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), parasmaipada (usage), indeclinable (no person/number)

• पञ्चशतान्: five hundred
• पञ्चशतान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पञ्चशत (पञ्च + शत)
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• योधान्: warriors
• योधान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: योध
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• शरैः: with arrows
• शरैः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शर
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• आशीविषोपमैः: like venomous serpents
• आशीविषोपमैः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: आशीविषोपम (आशीविष + उपम)
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• warriors (yodhāḥ)
• arrows (śarāḥ)
• venomous serpents (āśīviṣāḥ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the terrifying efficiency of martial skill: weapons can act with the suddenness and inevitability of poison. In the Mahābhārata’s ethical frame, such prowess is not celebrated without remainder; it intensifies the tension between kṣatriya-duty in war and the human cost that accrues as karmic and moral burden.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports a moment of extreme slaughter on the battlefield: a single combatant (implied by context) kills five hundred warriors using arrows described as ‘like venomous serpents,’ emphasizing speed, deadliness, and the panic such an assault creates among troops.