Shloka 14

रथचिह्नवर्णनम् / Description of Chariot Standards and Allied Advances

Devanagari script

संनिरुद्धाश्न॒ कौरव्यैद्रोणेन च महात्मना । एते<न्ये मण्डली भूता: पावकेनेव कुझड्जरा:,कौरव-सैनिकों तथा महामना द्रोणने इनकी गति रोक दी है। जैसे दावानलसे हाथी घिर जाते हैं, उसी प्रकार ये तथा अन्य पाण्डव-योद्धा कौरवोंसे घिर गये हैं

Transliteration

saṃniruddhāś ca kauravyair droṇena ca mahātmanā | ete ’nye maṇḍalībhūtāḥ pāvakeneva kuñjarāḥ ||

Translation

ドゥルヨーダナは言った。「この戦士たちは、クル族の軍勢と大魂のドローナによって進退を封じられ、包囲された。猛り狂う山火事に象が取り囲まれるように、彼らも他のパーンダヴァの戦士たちも、クル軍に囲い込まれたのだ。」

Word by Word

संनिरुद्धाःblocked, restrained

कौरव्यैःby the Kauravas

द्रोणेनby Droṇa

चand

महात्मनाby the great-souled (one)

एतेthese

अन्येothers

मण्डलीभूताःhaving formed a circle / being in a ring-formation

पावकेनby fire

इवlike, as

कुञ्जराःelephants

Speaker

दुर्योधन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Duryodhana

Droṇa

Kauravas

Pāṇḍava warriors

forest-fire (pāvaka/dāvānala imagery)

elephants (kuñjara)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse conveys how war compresses moral space: tactical success is described through the image of encirclement, reminding the reader that battlefield ‘skill’ often manifests as constriction and heightened danger for the surrounded—raising implicit questions about dharma and the human cost of victory.

What is happening in the narrative?

Duryodhana reports that Droṇa, together with the Kaurava forces, has checked the opposing fighters and enclosed them in a ring, comparing the trapped warriors to elephants surrounded by a spreading fire.