Shloka 17

Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 49: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament and Strategic Foreboding after Abhimanyu’s Fall

Devanagari script

विमृद्य नगशृज्भजाणि संनिवृत्तमिवानिलम्‌ । अस्तंगतमिवादित्यं तप्त्वा भारतवाहिनीम्‌,इस प्रकार रणभूमिमें गिरे हुए शूरवीर अभिमन्युको आपके सैनिकोंने चारों ओरसे घेर लिया। जैसे ग्रीष्म-ऋतुमें जंगलको जलाकर आग बुझ गयी हो, जिस प्रकार वायु वृक्षोंकी शाखाओंको तोड़-फोड़कर शान्त हो रही हो, जैसे संसारको संतप्त करके सूर्य अस्ताचलको चले गये हों, जैसे चन्द्रमापर ग्रहण लग गया हो तथा जैसे समुद्र सूख गया हो, उसी प्रकार समस्त कौरव-सेनाको संतप्त करके पूर्ण चन्द्रमाके समान मुखवाला अभिमन्यु पृथ्वीपर पड़ा था; उसके सिरके बड़े-बड़े बालों (काकपक्ष)-से उसकी आँखें ढक गयी थीं। उस दशामें उसे देखकर आपके महारथी बड़ी प्रसन्नताके साथ बारंबार सिंहनाद करने लगे

Transliteration

vimṛdya nagaśṛṅgabhajānī saṁnivṛttam ivānilam | astaṅgatam ivādityaṁ taptvā bhāratavāhinīm ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: “Having crushed the warriors of the Bhāratas, he lay stilled—like the wind that subsides after shattering the crests and branches of trees, like the sun that sets after scorching the world. Thus Abhimanyu, who had tormented the entire Kaurava host, lay fallen on the battlefield, surrounded on all sides by your soldiers. Seeing him in that condition, your great chariot-warriors repeatedly roared with lion-cries in exultation.”

Word by Word

विमृद्यhaving crushed/pressed down

नगmountains/trees (lit. immovable)

शृज्भजाणिunclear (corrupt/uncertain reading)

संनिवृत्तम्ceased, subsided, turned back

इवas if, like

अनिलम्wind

अस्तंगतम्set (gone to setting)

इवas if, like

आदित्यम्the sun

तप्त्वाhaving scorched/tormented

भारतवाहिनीम्the Bharata army

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Āditya (Sun)

Anila (Wind)

Bhārata-vāhinī (the host/army in the Bhārata war)

Abhimanyu (implied by the narrative context supplied in Hindi)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the moral tension of war: even extraordinary valor that ‘scorches’ an entire host ends in stillness and vulnerability. It highlights impermanence (the mighty become motionless like a spent wind or a setting sun) and implicitly questions the ethics of collective assault and triumphal exultation over a fallen hero.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a warrior who, after fiercely afflicting the opposing host, lies fallen and quiet on the battlefield. The surrounding soldiers close in, and the leading chariot-warriors respond with repeated lion-roars, celebrating the fall of the formidable fighter—identified in the surrounding passage as Abhimanyu.