Shloka 266
Adhyaya 11 — Draupadī’s Grief, Demand for Justice, and Bhīma’s Departure
तथा द्रौणिममित्रघ्न विनिहत्य सुखी भव । 'शत्रुसूदन पार्थ! जैसे पूर्वकालमें ये महान् कर्म आपने किये थे, उसी प्रकार इस द्रोणपुत्रको भी मारकर सुखी हो जाइये'
tathā drauṇim amitraghna vinihatya sukhī bhava | śatrusūdana pārtha yathā pūrvakāle mahāni karmāṇi tvayā kṛtāni tathā enam api droṇaputram hatvā sukhī bhava ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O slayer of foes, become happy by striking down Drauṇi. O Śatrusūdana Pārtha, just as in former times you accomplished great deeds, so now too—having killed this son of Droṇa—be at peace and regain happiness.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the slaying of a dangerous enemy as a means to restore safety and inner steadiness after catastrophe, appealing to a warrior’s prior record of righteous valor. Ethically, it reflects the epic’s tension between the duty to neutralize a threat and the moral weight of killing, especially in a cycle of vengeance.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana reports an exhortation directed to Arjuna (Pārtha): he is urged to kill Drauṇi (Aśvatthāman), the son of Droṇa, and thereby regain peace—invoking Arjuna’s earlier heroic deeds as precedent and motivation.