Mahabharata (Gita Press) 7.49.17 - Drona Parva, Adhyaya 49, Shloka 17

Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 49: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament and Strategic Foreboding after Abhimanyu’s Fall

Devanagari script

विमृद्य नगशृज्भजाणि संनिवृत्तमिवानिलम्‌ । अस्तंगतमिवादित्यं तप्त्वा भारतवाहिनीम्‌

Transliteration

vimṛdya nagaśṛṅgabhajānī saṁnivṛttam ivānilam | astaṅgatam ivādityaṁ taptvā bhāratavāhinīm ||

Translation

สัญชัยกล่าวว่า ครั้นเขาบดขยี้เหล่าวีรชนแห่งภารตะแล้ว ก็แน่นิ่งลง—ดุจลมที่สงบหลังหักยอดและกิ่งไม้ทั้งหลาย ดุจอาทิตย์ที่ลับหลังแผดเผาโลก. ดังนี้เอง อภิมันยุ ผู้ทำให้กองทัพเการวะทั้งสิ้นร้อนระอุ ได้ล้มลงในสมรภูมิ และทหารของท่านก็ล้อมไว้ทุกด้าน. ครั้นเห็นเขาในสภาพนั้น มหารถีฝ่ายท่านก็เปล่งนาทสิงห์ซ้ำแล้วซ้ำเล่าด้วยความยินดี.

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Word by Word

• विमृद्य: having crushed/pressed down
• विमृद्य: Karana
• Type: Verb
• Root: वि+मृद्
• Form: ल्यप् (absolutive/gerund), कर्तरि

• नग: mountains/trees (lit. immovable)
• नग: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: नग
• Form: masculine, accusative, plural

• शृज्भजाणि: unclear (corrupt/uncertain reading)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्पष्ट (पाठदोष/भ्रष्टपाठ)

• संनिवृत्तम्: ceased, subsided, turned back
• संनिवृत्तम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सम्+नि+वृत्
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), neuter, accusative, singular

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

• अनिलम्: wind
• अनिलम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनिल
• Form: masculine, accusative, singular

• अस्तंगतम्: set (gone to setting)
• अस्तंगतम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अस्तं+गम् (अस्तंगत)
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), neuter, accusative, singular

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

• आदित्यम्: the sun
• आदित्यम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: आदित्य
• Form: masculine, accusative, singular

• तप्त्वा: having scorched/tormented
• तप्त्वा: Karana
• Type: Verb
• Root: तप्
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), कर्तरि

• भारतवाहिनीम्: the Bharata army
• भारतवाहिनीम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: भारत+वाहिनी
• Form: feminine, accusative, singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Āditya (Sun)
• Anila (Wind)
• Bhārata-vāhinī (the host/army in the Bhārata war)
• Abhimanyu (implied by the narrative context supplied in Hindi)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the moral tension of war: even extraordinary valor that ‘scorches’ an entire host ends in stillness and vulnerability. It highlights impermanence (the mighty become motionless like a spent wind or a setting sun) and implicitly questions the ethics of collective assault and triumphal exultation over a fallen hero.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a warrior who, after fiercely afflicting the opposing host, lies fallen and quiet on the battlefield. The surrounding soldiers close in, and the leading chariot-warriors respond with repeated lion-roars, celebrating the fall of the formidable fighter—identified in the surrounding passage as Abhimanyu.