Shloka 78

Devanagari script

ततस्ते विव्यधु: सर्वे द्रौणिं राजन्‌ महारथा: । युगपच्च पृथक्‌ चैव रुक्मपुड्खै: शिलाशितै:,राजन! तत्पश्चात्‌ उन सब महारथियोंने एक साथ और अलग-अलग भी शिलापर तेज किये हुए सुवर्णमय पंखवाले बाणोंद्वारा द्रोणकुमारको घायल करना आरम्भ किया

Transliteration

tataste vivyadhuḥ sarve drauṇiṃ rājan mahārathāḥ | yugapac ca pṛthak caiva rukmapuṅkhaiḥ śilāśitaiḥ ||

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。「それから王よ、あの大車戦士たちは皆、ドローナの子を射貫き始めた。ある者は一斉に呼吸を合わせて襲い、ある者はそれぞれに分かれて挑む。金色の矢羽はきらめき、矢尻は石で研がれて鋭かった。」

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

तेthey

विव्यधुःpierced, wounded

सर्वेall

द्रौणिम्Drona's son (Ashvatthaman)

राजन्O king

महारथाःgreat chariot-warriors

युगपत्simultaneously

चand

पृथक्separately

चand

एवindeed, just

रुक्मपुड्खैःwith golden-feathered (arrows)

शिलाशितैःsharpened on a whetstone

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (addressed as rājan)

Drauṇi (Aśvatthāman, son of Droṇa)

mahārathāḥ (great chariot-warriors)

rukmapuṅkha arrows (golden-fletched arrows)

śilāśita (stone-whetted arrowheads)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how, in war, coordinated strategy (yugapat) and individual valor (pṛthak) operate together; ethically, it reflects the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between kṣatriya duty and the grim reality that skill and unity can intensify violence against a single target.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that multiple elite warriors begin wounding Drauṇi (Aśvatthāman) with stone-sharpened, golden-fletched arrows—some attacking him simultaneously as a group and others engaging him one-on-one.