Shloka 123
धृतराष्ट्रस्य मूर्च्छा तथा द्रोणविषयकप्रश्नाः
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Fainting and Questions Concerning Droṇa
पतनं भास्करस्यथेव न मृष्ये द्रोणपातनम् । द्रोणका रणभूमिमें गिराया जाना समुद्रके सूखने, मेरु पर्वतके चलने-फिरने और सूर्यके आकाशसे टूटकर गिरनेके समान है। मैं इसे किसी प्रकार सहन नहीं कर पाता
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | patanaṃ bhāskarasyeva na mṛṣye droṇapātanam | droṇaḥ raṇabhūmau pātitaḥ samudrasya śoṣaṇena meror calanena bhāskarasya nabhastalaṃ bhittvā patanena ca samam iva manye | etad ahaṃ kathaṃcid api na sahāmi |
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “I cannot endure Droṇa’s fall—just as one could not bear the sun itself falling. That Droṇa has been brought down on the battlefield seems to me like the ocean drying up, Mount Meru moving from its place, or the sun breaking from the sky and crashing down. I cannot, in any way, bear this.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how the fall of a revered figure (a teacher-warrior like Droṇa) can feel like a collapse of the moral and cosmic order. It also implicitly raises the ethical tension of war: even when victory is sought, the destruction of venerable elders is experienced as a profound, almost world-shattering loss.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra hears of Droṇa being felled in battle and reacts with intense shock and sorrow. He uses cosmic-scale comparisons—ocean drying, Meru moving, the sun falling—to convey that Droṇa’s downfall is, to him, unimaginable and unbearable.