Shloka 35
Droṇa-pātana-paripṛcchā (Inquiry into the Fall of Droṇa) | द्रोणपातनपरिपृच्छा
देवता: पितरश्ैव पूर्वे ये चास्य बान्धवा: । ददृशुर्निहतं तत्र भारद्वाजं महारथम्,देवता, पितर तथा जो इनके पूर्ववर्ती भाई-बन्धु थे, उन्होंने भी वहाँ भरद्वाजनन्दन महारथी द्रोणाचार्यको मारा गया देखा
devatāḥ pitaraś caiva pūrve ye cāsya bāndhavāḥ | dadṛśur nihataṃ tatra bhāradvājaṃ mahāratham ||
Sanjaya said: The gods, the ancestral fathers, and those earlier kinsmen of his as well beheld there the great chariot-warrior, Bhāradvāja’s son (Droṇa), lying slain. The scene underscores how the fall of a foremost teacher in war is witnessed not only by men but, in the epic’s moral imagination, by cosmic and ancestral orders—making the death a grave, world-marked event rather than a merely tactical outcome.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a warrior’s death—especially that of a revered teacher like Droṇa—as an event witnessed by divine and ancestral realms, implying moral weight beyond immediate victory. It suggests that actions in war are not ethically private; they stand before larger orders (devas and pitṛs) that represent cosmic law, lineage, and accountability.
Sanjaya reports that Droṇa, the great chariot-warrior and son of Bharadvāja, has been killed, and that even the gods, the ancestral fathers, and his earlier kinsmen are said to behold him slain there on the battlefield.