Shloka 22
त॑ पाण्डवादित्यशरांशुजालं कुरुप्रवीरान् युधि निष्टपन्तम् । स द्रोणमेघः शरवृष्टिवेगै: प्राच्छादयन्मेघ इवार्करश्मीन्,जैसे बादल सूर्यकी किरणोंको छिपा देता है, उसी प्रकार द्रोणाचार्यरूपी मेघने अपनी बाण-वर्षके वेगसे अर्जुनरूपी सूर्यके इस बाणरूपी किरणसमूहको आच्छादित कर दिया, जो युद्धमें मुख्य-मुख्य कौरव वीरोंको संतप्त कर रहा था
taṁ pāṇḍavādityaśarāṁśujālaṁ kurupravīrān yudhi niṣṭapantam | sa droṇameghaḥ śaravṛṣṭivegaiḥ prācchādayan megha ivārkaraśmīn ||
Sañjaya said: Arjuna, the sun of the Pāṇḍavas, was scorching the foremost Kuru heroes in battle with a net of arrow-rays. Then Droṇa, like a cloud, covered that sun’s beams—checking Arjuna’s blazing onslaught by the sheer force of his arrow-rain. The verse frames war as a contest of power and restraint: brilliance that burns is met by a counter-force that veils and contains it, without yet resolving the deeper question of righteousness behind the violence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how power in war is met by an opposing power: brilliance that ‘scorches’ is countered by a force that ‘covers.’ Ethically, it hints at the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension—extraordinary skill can dominate the battlefield, yet it does not by itself settle the question of dharma; it only shifts advantage through restraint and response.
Arjuna is overwhelming the leading Kuru warriors with a dense barrage of arrows, compared to the sun’s rays scorching the earth. Droṇa responds with an even more forceful shower of arrows, likened to a cloud that blocks the sunbeams, thereby checking Arjuna’s attack.