Mahabharata 7.25.60 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 25, Shloka 60
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 25 — Bhīma’s Disruption of Elephant Formations and Bhagadatta’s Shock Advance
आतुदन् प्ररुजन् भज्जन् निध्नन् विद्रावयन् क्षिपन् | सेनां विभीषयन्नायाद् द्रौणप्रेप्सुर्घटोत्कच:
sañjaya uvāca |
ātudan prarujan bhajjan nidhnan vidrāvayan kṣipan |
senāṃ vibhīṣayann āyād drauṇaprepsur ghaṭotkacaḥ ||
Sanjaya said: Ghaṭotkaca advanced, intent on seizing Droṇa’s son. Striking, crushing, shattering, killing, routing, and hurling men about, he spread terror through the army. In the ethical atmosphere of the war, his onrush embodies the escalation of violence—fear as a weapon and force as a means to break the enemy’s will—while remaining bound to the battlefield’s grim code of defeating the opposing host.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how fear and overwhelming force function as instruments in war; ethically, it underscores the tragic momentum of violence where victory is pursued by breaking the enemy’s cohesion and morale.
Ghaṭotkaca charges into the battlefield, wreaking havoc and terrifying the opposing host, specifically aiming to seize Droṇa’s son (Aśvatthāman).
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