Shloka 20
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
आचार्य पुत्र शस्त्रेण जहि मां मा चिरं कृथा: । त्वत्कृते सुकृताललोकान् गच्छेयं द्विपदां वर,उसने अपने नखोंसे द्रोणकुमारको बकोटते हुए अस्पष्ट वाणीमें कहा--“मनुष्योंमें श्रेष्ठ आचार्यपुत्र! अब देरी न करो। मुझे किसी शस्त्रसे मार डालो, जिससे तुम्हारे कारण मैं पुण्यलोकोंमें जा सकूँ”
ācārya-putra śastreṇa jahi māṁ mā ciraṁ kṛthāḥ | tvat-kṛte sukṛtāl lokān gaccheyaṁ dvipadāṁ vara ||
Sañjaya said: Gripping Droṇa’s son with his nails, he spoke in a broken voice: “O son of the preceptor, best among men—do not delay. Kill me with some weapon, so that, through you, I may depart to the worlds gained by merit.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical tension of seeking a ‘good death’ and posthumous merit even amid brutality: the speaker urges being slain by a proper weapon (śastra), implying a belief that the manner and agency of death can shape one’s afterlife, while also exposing how war distorts moral judgment—turning killing into a means of ‘benefit’ for the slain.
In the night-raid context of the Sauptika Parva, a wounded or captured person clutches Droṇa’s son and, speaking indistinctly, begs him not to delay but to kill him with a weapon, so that he may attain meritorious realms ‘through’ Aśvatthāman’s act.