Shloka 14
संनिरुद्धाश्न॒ कौरव्यैद्रोणेन च महात्मना । एते<न्ये मण्डली भूता: पावकेनेव कुझड्जरा:,कौरव-सैनिकों तथा महामना द्रोणने इनकी गति रोक दी है। जैसे दावानलसे हाथी घिर जाते हैं, उसी प्रकार ये तथा अन्य पाण्डव-योद्धा कौरवोंसे घिर गये हैं
saṃniruddhāś ca kauravyair droṇena ca mahātmanā | ete ’nye maṇḍalībhūtāḥ pāvakeneva kuñjarāḥ ||
Duryodhana said: “These warriors have been checked and hemmed in by the Kauravas, and by the great-souled Droṇa. Like elephants surrounded by a raging forest-fire, they and the other Pāṇḍava fighters have been encircled.” The verse highlights the tightening net of battle—where tactical containment is celebrated as prowess, yet it also underscores the moral tension of war: victory is pursued through enclosure and pressure rather than open release, intensifying the peril for those trapped within the ring.
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse conveys how war compresses moral space: tactical success is described through the image of encirclement, reminding the reader that battlefield ‘skill’ often manifests as constriction and heightened danger for the surrounded—raising implicit questions about dharma and the human cost of victory.
Duryodhana reports that Droṇa, together with the Kaurava forces, has checked the opposing fighters and enclosed them in a ring, comparing the trapped warriors to elephants surrounded by a spreading fire.