Shloka 316

Devanagari script

आचार्यो न्यासित: शस्त्र कि तन्न विदितं मया । “दुर्मते! अश्वत्थामाके सदृश नामवाले एक हाथीको मारकर तुमलोगोंने द्रोणाचार्यके हाथसे शस्त्र नीचे डलवा दिया था, क्या वह मुझे ज्ञात नहीं है?

Transliteration

ācāryo nyāsitaḥ śastraṃ ki tan na viditaṃ mayā | durmate aśvatthāmāke sadṛśa-nāmavāle eka-hastinaṃ mārayan yūyaṃ droṇācāryasya hastāt śastraṃ nyāsayāmāsaḥ, ki tan na jñātaṃ mayā ||

Translation

Санджая сказал: «Учитель опустил оружие — думаешь, я не знаю, как это случилось? О злонамеренные! Убив слона, носившего то же имя — “Ашваттхама”, — вы заставили Дрону-ачарью выронить оружие из руки. Разве это мне неизвестно?»

Word by Word

आचार्यःthe teacher (Drona)

न्यासितःwas made to lay down / laid down

शस्त्रम्weapon

किम्what?

तत्that

नnot

विदितम्known

मयाby me / to me

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Droṇācārya (Droṇa)

Aśvatthāmā (name used as a ruse)

Elephant (Aśvatthāmā-named)

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 the ethical cost of deception in war: even when used for strategic victory, a ruse that exploits a revered teacher’s trust (Droṇa’s paternal attachment to Aśvatthāmā) is remembered as morally blameworthy and corrosive to dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya recalls the earlier battlefield episode in which Droṇa was induced to abandon fighting by the report of “Aśvatthāmā’s death,” made plausible through the killing of an elephant bearing that name; this led Droṇa to lay down his weapons.