Shloka 11
द्रोणपर्व — अध्याय ९०: हार्दिक्यस्य पराक्रमः
Kṛtavarmā’s Stand against the Pāṇḍavas
“जिस प्रकार तटभूमि समुद्रको आगे बढ़नेसे रोकती है, उसी प्रकार आज मैं युद्धमें उन्मत्त होकर लड़नेवाले शत्रु-संतापी गाण्डीवधारी अर्जुनको रोक दूँगा
yathā taṭabhūmiḥ samudraṃ purataḥ pravṛddhaṃ nivārayati, tathā adya yuddhe mattaḥ san śatru-santāpī gāṇḍīvadhārī arjunaṃ nivārayiṣyāmi.
Sañjaya said: “Just as the shoreline holds back the sea when it surges forward, so today, in the frenzy of battle, I will check Arjuna—the bearer of Gāṇḍīva, the scourge of his foes.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a natural simile to express the idea of restraint: even overwhelming force can be checked by a firm boundary. Ethically, it highlights the warrior ideal of meeting a formidable opponent with resolve, while also implying that power in war is not limitless and must encounter limits—whether strategic, moral, or fated.
Sañjaya reports a battlefield declaration in which a warrior claims he will stop Arjuna, famed as the enemy-tormenting bearer of the Gāṇḍīva. The comparison to the shore restraining the sea dramatizes the intensity of Arjuna’s advance and frames the speaker’s intent to oppose and contain him in the ongoing conflict of the Droṇa Parva.