Shloka 96

Devanagari script

किमहं कातरो द्रौणे पृूथगजन इवाहवे

Transliteration

kim ahaṃ kātaro drauṇe pṛthagjana ivāhave

Translation

သဉ္ဇယက ပြောသည်– «စစ်မြေပြင်၌ ဒြောဏိကို ရင်ဆိုင်ရာတွင် အဘယ်ကြောင့် ငါသည် လေ့ကျင့်မှုမရှိသော သာမန်လူတစ်ယောက်ကဲ့သို့ ကြောက်ရွံ့ရမည်နည်း?»

Word by Word

• किम्: what? (am I?)
• किम्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: किम्
• Form: neuter, nominative, singular

• अहम्: I
• अहम्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: common, nominative, singular

• कातरः: cowardly, timid
• कातरः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कातर
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• द्रौणे: O son of Droṇa (Aśvatthāman)
• द्रौणे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun (proper/epithet)
• Root: द्रौणि
• Form: masculine, vocative, singular

• पृथक्: separately, apart
• पृथक्: Karana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पृथक्

• जनः: a man, person
• जनः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: जन
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• इव: as if, like
• इव: Karana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव

• आहवे: in battle
• आहवे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: आहव
• Form: masculine, locative, singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Drauṇi (Aśvatthāman)
• Droṇa (implied by patronymic)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line contrasts the mindset of a resolute warrior with that of a “pṛthagjana” (ordinary person): in the dharmic frame of battlefield duty, fear is treated as a lapse from one’s role and training, and courage is upheld as a necessary ethical discipline.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, narrating the events of the war, voices a rhetorical challenge to fear: he asks why he should tremble before Drauṇi (Aśvatthāman) in the midst of combat, implying confidence and the expectation of steadfastness amid the terrors of Drona-parvan’s fighting.