Shloka 11
Droṇa’s Rebuke to Duryodhana after Jayadratha’s Fall (द्रोणेन दुर्योधनं प्रति प्रत्युक्तिः)
वहाँ आये हुए देवता तथा चारण ऐसा कहते थे कि इस भूतलपर सारे समूहोंकी अन्तिम सीमा यही होगी ।। न च वै तादृशो व्यूह आसीत् कश्चिद् विशाम्पते | यादग् जयद्रथवधे द्रोणेन विहितो$भवत्,प्रजानाथ! जयद्रथवधके समय द्रोणाचार्यने जैसा व्यूह बनाया था, वैसा दूसरा कोई भी व्यूह नहीं बन सका था
sañjaya uvāca | na ca vai tādṛśo vyūha āsīt kaścid viśāmpate | yādṛg jayadrathavadhe droṇena vihito 'bhavat prajānātha ||
Sañjaya said: O lord of the people, O ruler of men, no battle-formation of such a kind had ever existed as the one Droṇa devised at the time of Jayadratha’s slaying. Even the gods and the celestial bards who had come there declared that on this very earth this would stand as the ultimate limit of assembled formations—an unsurpassed pinnacle of martial arrangement, forged for a single, fateful purpose in the war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how extraordinary skill and planning can be marshalled toward a single end, but it also implicitly raises an ethical tension: brilliance in warfare is morally ambiguous when used to intensify destruction. It invites reflection on how human ingenuity, when yoked to adharma or vengeance, can become an ‘unsurpassed’ instrument of harm rather than protection.
Sañjaya reports to the king that Droṇa created an unparalleled battle-array specifically during the attempt to secure (or respond to) Jayadratha’s slaying. The formation is described as unmatched—so exceptional that even gods and celestial bards present there proclaimed it the ultimate limit of such military groupings on earth.