Shloka 37
नरेश्वर! द्रोणके वधकी इच्छा रखनेवाले धृष्टद्युम्नका रूप पूर्वकालमें हिरण्यकशिपुके वधके लिये उद्यत हुए नृसिंहरूपधारी भगवान् विष्णुके समान प्रतीत होता था ।। स तदा विविधान् मार्गान् प्रवरांश्चैकविंशतिम् | दर्शयामास कौरव्य पार्षतो विचरन् रणे,कुरुनन्दन! रणमें विचरते हुए धृष्टद्युम्नने उस समय तलवारके इक्कीस प्रकारके विविध उत्तम हाथ दिखाये
sañjaya uvāca |
nareśvara! droṇake vadhakī icchā rakhanevāle dhṛṣṭadyumnakā rūpa pūrvakāla meṃ hiraṇyakaśipu-ke vadhake liye udyata hue nṛsiṃharūpadhārī bhagavān viṣṇu-ke samāna pratīta hotā thā ||
sa tadā vividhān mārgān pravarāṃś caikaviṃśatim |
darśayāmāsa kauravya pārṣato vicaran raṇe, kurunandana! raṇeṃ vicarate hue dhṛṣṭadyumnane us samaya talavārake ikkīs prakārake vividha uttama hāth dikhāye ||
Sanjaya said: O king, Dhrishtadyumna—intent on slaying Drona—appeared like Lord Vishnu in the form of Narasimha, who once rose to destroy Hiranyakashipu. Then, moving about in the battle, the son of Prishata displayed, O descendant of Kuru, twenty-one excellent and varied sword-techniques. Ethically, the passage heightens the sense of fated retribution: a warrior driven by a vowed purpose is likened to a divine instrument of justice, even as the scene remains firmly within the human tragedy of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how a fixed intention (especially one tied to a larger moral narrative) can make a human agent appear like an instrument of cosmic justice; yet it also warns, by context, that such ‘divine’ framing occurs within the grim reality of war where dharma is contested and costly.
Sanjaya describes Dhrishtadyumna on the battlefield: determined to kill Drona, he looks formidable—likened to Vishnu as Narasimha—and he demonstrates twenty-one superior varieties of sword-hand techniques while moving through the fight.