Shloka 3
Droṇasya raudra-prayogaḥ
Droṇa’s intensified assault and the Pāṇḍava response
पार्षत॑ तु रणे राजन् न हनिष्ये कथंचन । स हि सृष्टी वधार्थाय ममैव पुरुषर्षभ:,राजन! मैं ट्रुपदकुमार धृष्टद्युम्नको युद्धस्थलमें किसी प्रकार भी नहीं मारूँगा; क्योंकि वह पुरुषप्रवर धृष्टद्युम्न मेरे ही वधके लिये उत्पन्न हुआ है
pārṣataṁ tu raṇe rājan na haniṣye kathaṁcana | sa hi sṛṣṭī vadhārthāya mamaiva puruṣarṣabhaḥ ||
Sanjaya said: “O King, I will not slay the son of Pṛṣata (Dhṛṣṭadyumna) on the battlefield—by no means. For that bull among men was brought forth precisely for my own death.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension between martial agency and foreordained destiny: even a great warrior may refrain from a decisive act when he recognizes a divinely or ritually ordained outcome—here, the belief that Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s very birth is tied to the speaker’s death.
In the Drona Parva battle account, the speaker (in context, Droṇa’s stance as reported by Sañjaya to Dhṛtarāṣṭra) declares he will not kill Dhṛṣṭadyumna in combat, because Dhṛṣṭadyumna is known as the one destined/created to bring about his death.