Shloka 15
Droṇa-pātana-paripṛcchā (Inquiry into the Fall of Droṇa) | द्रोणपातनपरिपृच्छा
स तथा तेष्वनीकेषु पाण्डुपुत्रस्य मारिष | कालवदू व्यचरद् द्रोणो युवेव स्थविरो बली,आर्य! बलवान द्रोणाचार्य वृद्ध होकर भी तरुणके समान फुर्ती दिखाते हुए पाण्बुपुत्र युधिष्ठिरकी सेनाओंमें कालके समान विचरने लगे
sa tathā teṣv anīkeṣu pāṇḍuputrasya māriṣa | kālavad vyacarad droṇo yuveva sthaviro balī ||
Sañjaya said: “O venerable one, moving through the battle-formations of the son of Pāṇḍu, Droṇa—though aged—ranged about with the swiftness of a young man, powerful and relentless like Time itself. In this vision of war, prowess becomes a moral pressure: the teacher’s might turns into an impersonal force that spares none, reminding all that in battle the consequences of action arrive with the inevitability of kāla.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames battlefield power as ‘kāla’—an impersonal inevitability. It cautions that in war, actions rapidly mature into unavoidable consequences, and even revered figures (a teacher like Droṇa) can become instruments of relentless destruction, raising ethical tension between duty, loyalty, and compassion.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Droṇa, though elderly, is moving swiftly through the Pāṇḍavas’ battle-formations (under the Pāṇḍuputra leader), striking with overwhelming force, compared to Time/Death roaming the field.