Shloka 723
ऋषे: प्रसादात् कृष्णस्य सत्यवत्या: सुतस्य च । नरेश्वर! द्रोणाचार्य आकाशमें पहुँचकर नक्षत्रोंके पथमें प्रविष्ट हो गये। उस समय सत्यवतीनन्दन महर्षि श्रीकृष्णद्वैपायनके प्रसादसे मैंने भी द्रोणाचार्यकी वह दिव्य मृत्यु प्रत्यक्ष देख ली
ṛṣeḥ prasādāt kṛṣṇasya satyavatyāḥ sutasya ca | nareśvara droṇācārya ākāśaṁ prāpya nakṣatrāṇāṁ pathi praviṣṭo 'bhavat | tadā satyavatīnandana-maharṣi-śrīkṛṣṇadvaipāyanaprasādāt mayāpi droṇācāryasya sā divyā mṛtyuḥ pratyakṣaṁ dṛṣṭā ||
Sañjaya said: By the grace of the seer, and by the grace of Kṛṣṇa and of the son of Satyavatī, O king, Droṇācārya rose into the sky and entered the path of the stars. At that time, through the favor of the sage Śrī Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana—Satyavatī’s son—I too beheld with my own eyes that divine passing of Droṇa. The episode frames Droṇa’s end not merely as a battlefield death, but as a spiritually charged departure witnessed through higher vision granted by revered sages.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes that certain pivotal events—especially a great warrior’s end—are framed as occurring under higher sanction: ‘prasāda’ (grace) enables true seeing. Ethically, it suggests that the meaning of death in the epic is not exhausted by violence alone; it is also interpreted through spiritual authority (ṛṣi, Vyāsa) and divine presence (Kṛṣṇa), shaping how one understands duty, consequence, and transcendence.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Droṇācārya, at the time of his end, rose into the sky and entered the celestial path of the stars. Sañjaya adds that he could directly witness this ‘divine death’ only because Vyāsa (Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, son of Satyavatī) granted him the extraordinary capacity to see it.