Shloka 26
द्रोणनिन्दाश्रवणं तथा सात्यकि–पार्षतविवादः
Hearing the reproach of Droṇa and the Sātyaki–Pārṣata dispute
प्रतिविव्याध तं राजन् नवभिर्निशितै: शरै: । पुनश्चैनं त्रिसप्तत्या भूयश्चैव शतेन तु
prativivyādha taṃ rājan navabhir niśitaiḥ śaraiḥ | punaś cainaṃ trisaptatyā bhūyaś caiva śatena tu ||
Sañjaya said: O King, he struck him in return with nine keen arrows; and again he pierced him with seventy-three more, and yet again with a full hundred. The passage underscores the relentless escalation of violence on the battlefield—skill and resolve expressed through repeated counterblows, while the ethical tragedy of war is felt in the very excess of wounding.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how warfare tends to intensify through retaliation and excess: each strike invites a stronger counterstrike. Ethically, it points to the tragic momentum of conflict—prowess and duty in battle can coexist with the grim reality of repeated harm.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a warrior (unnamed in this verse) counterattacks an opponent, first with nine sharp arrows, then with seventy-three more, and then with a hundred—describing a rapid, overwhelming barrage in the midst of the Drona Parva battle.