Shloka 41
ब्रह्मास्त्र प्रकट करते हुए नरश्रेष्ठ द्रोणने सैकड़ों और हजारों भल्लोंद्वारा शत्रु-सैनिकोंका संहार कर डाला ।। पाण्डवा: केकया मत्स्या: पञ्चालाश्न विशेषत: । संख्ये द्रोणरथं प्राप्पय व्यनशन् कालचोदिता:,पाण्डव, केकय, मत्स्य तथा विशेषतः पांचाल योद्धा कालसे प्रेरित हो युद्धमें द्रोणाचार्यके रथके पास आकर नष्ट हो गये
brahmāstraṁ prakaṭaṁ kurvan naraśreṣṭho droṇo bhallaiḥ śataśasahasraśaḥ śatru-sainikān saṅkhyē jaghāna || pāṇḍavāḥ kekayā matsyāḥ pañcālāś ca viśeṣataḥ | saṅkhyē droṇa-rathaṁ prāpya vyanāśan kāla-coditāḥ ||
Kṛpa said: As Droṇa—the foremost among men—made the Brahmāstra manifest, he cut down the enemy’s soldiers in battle with hundreds and thousands of sharp arrows. The Pāṇḍavas, the Kekayas, the Matsyas, and especially the Pañcālas, driven onward by Time’s compulsion, came up to Droṇa’s chariot in the thick of combat and were destroyed. The verse frames the slaughter not merely as martial prowess but as the grim unfolding of fate (kāla) within a war where even the valorous are swept into inevitable ruin.
कृप उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s recurring ethical tension: even extraordinary skill and divine weaponry operate within the larger sovereignty of Kāla (Time/Fate). Heroism and alliance do not guarantee safety; when the course of events ripens, warriors—however noble—are swept toward destruction, reminding readers of the war’s tragic inevitability and the limits of human control.
Kṛpa narrates Droṇa’s battlefield dominance: Droṇa deploys the Brahmāstra and, with immense volleys of arrows, annihilates enemy troops. Pāṇḍava-aligned forces—Pāṇḍavas, Kekayas, Matsyas, and especially Pañcālas—rush toward Droṇa’s chariot in combat but are slain, described as being driven by Kāla.