Shloka 16
Yudhiṣṭhira–Droṇa Saṃgrāma
Engagement and Countermeasures
दुःखोपायस्य मे वीर विकाडुशक्षा परिवर्तते । द्रुतं च याति सविता तत एतद् ब्रवीम्यहम्,“वीर! अब इस कष्टसाध्य (जयद्रथवधरूपी कार्य)-की ओरसे मेरी अभिलाषा परिवर्तित हो रही है। इसके सिवा इन दिनों सूर्य जल्दी अस्त हो जाते हैं; इसलिये मैं ऐसा कह रहा हूँ"
sañjaya uvāca | duḥkhopāyasya me vīra vikāḍuśakṣā parivartate | drutaṃ ca yāti savitā tata etad bravīmy aham |
Sañjaya said: “O hero, my resolve regarding this painful and difficult undertaking is turning back. Moreover, the Sun now hastens quickly toward setting; therefore I speak thus.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how time (symbolized by the swiftly setting Sun) intensifies moral and strategic pressure in war: resolve can waver when an undertaking is extremely painful and the deadline approaches, reminding the listener that human effort is constrained by time and circumstance.
Sañjaya, narrating the battlefield events, remarks that the task at hand feels grievously difficult and that daylight is running out quickly. In the Drona Parva context, this points to the mounting urgency around accomplishing a crucial objective before sunset.