Shloka 5
Saubhadra under Concentrated Assault; Pārṣata’s Intervention and Escalation
द्रोणस्तु निशितैर्बाणैर्धष्टद्युम्ममविध्यत । सारथिं चास्य भल्लेन रथनीडादपातयत्,द्रोणाचार्यने अपने तीखे बाणोंसे धृष्टद्युम्मको घायल कर दिया और उनके सारथिको भल्लके द्वारा मारकर रथकी बैठकसे नीचे गिरा दिया
droṇas tu niśitair bāṇair dhṛṣṭadyumnam avidhyat | sārathiṃ cāsya bhallena rathanīḍād apātayat |
Sabi ni Sañjaya: “Tinamaan ni Droṇa si Dhṛṣṭadyumna ng mga palasong matalim na parang labaha at siya’y nasugatan; at sa isang palasong bhalla, pinaslang niya ang tagapagmaneho ng karwahe ni Dhṛṣṭadyumna at inihulog ito mula sa upuan ng karwahe.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the grim ethical tension of war: martial excellence and tactical necessity can demand lethal actions even against non-royal combatants like charioteers, reminding readers that battlefield dharma operates within a harsh, consequential reality.
Sañjaya reports that Droṇa wounds Dhṛṣṭadyumna with sharp arrows and then kills Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s charioteer with a bhalla-arrow, knocking him from the chariot-seat, thereby weakening Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s immediate fighting capacity.