Shloka 28

Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout

Devanagari script

अफक्रान्ते ततस्तस्मिन्‌ द्रोणपुत्रे महारथे

Transliteration

apakrānte tatastasmindroṇaputre mahārathe

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。ついで、ドローナの子――大車戦の勇士――がその場から退いたとき、形勢は移り変わり、夜の凄惨な余波に続く出来事の舞台が整えられた。

Word by Word

• अवक्रान्ते: when (he) had stepped down/descended
• अवक्रान्ते: Adhikarana
• Type: Verb
• Root: अव-क्रम्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Locative, Singular, क्त (past passive participle)

• ततः: then/from there
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः

• तस्मिन्: in/at that (time/person)
• तस्मिन्: Adhikarana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Locative, Singular

• द्रोणपुत्रे: in/at the son of Droṇa (Aśvatthāman)
• द्रोणपुत्रे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्रोणपुत्र
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• महारथे: in/at the great chariot-warrior
• महारथे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: महारथ
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Droṇaputra (Aśvatthāmā)
• Droṇa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse functions as a narrative hinge: the departure of a powerful agent (Aśvatthāmā) signals how individual choices in war redirect events, highlighting the moral weight of actions and their cascading consequences.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that Droṇa’s son, the great warrior Aśvatthāmā, has withdrawn; this brief notice marks a transition to the next development in the Sauptika Parva’s night-time sequence.