Shloka 17
को हि ब्राह्मणमाचार्यमभिद्रुह्देत मादृश: । ऋषिपुत्रो ममाचार्यो द्रोणस्थ परम: सखा
sañjaya uvāca | ko hi brāhmaṇam ācāryam abhidruhyeta mādṛśaḥ | ṛṣiputro mamācāryo droṇastha paramaḥ sakhā ||
Sañjaya said: “Who, being such as I am, would ever commit treachery against a Brahmin teacher? He is the son of a seer, my own preceptor—Droṇa—indeed my closest and highest friend.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical restraint against harming or betraying one’s ācārya, especially a Brahmin teacher. It presents loyalty to the guru and reverence for learning and spiritual lineage (ṛṣiputra) as a moral boundary that should not be crossed even amid the pressures of war.
Sañjaya speaks in self-justification, asserting that someone like him would not act treacherously toward Droṇa. He emphasizes Droṇa’s status as a Brahmin preceptor and seer’s son, and also as his intimate friend, to underline why betrayal would be unthinkable.