Shloka 22
Aśvatthāmā’s Lamentation, Vow of Retaliation, and the Manifestation of the Nārāyaṇāstra (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय १६६)
त्रिगर्तानां च ये शूरा हतशिष्टा महारथा: । तांश्वैव पुरत: सर्वान् पुत्रस्ते समचोदयत्,राजन! त्रिगर्तोंके जो शूरवीर महारथी मरनेसे शेष रह गये थे, उन सबको आपके पुत्रने द्रोणाचार्यके आगे-आगे चलनेकी आज्ञा देते हुए कहा--
trigartānāṁ ca ye śūrā hataśiṣṭā mahārathāḥ | tāṁś caiva purataḥ sarvān putras te samacodayat, rājan |
Sañjaya said: “O King, your son urged on all those heroic Trigarta great chariot-warriors who had survived the slaughter, ordering them to go in the very front.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethics of wartime leadership: a commander deploys surviving elite troops to the front, emphasizing resolve and the kṣatriya ideal of facing danger directly—while also implicitly showing the harsh calculus of war where survivors are immediately recommitted to peril.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Duryodhana, seeking to strengthen the battle formation, commands the remaining Trigarta mahārathas—those who survived earlier fighting—to advance at the very front, ahead of Droṇa.