Mahabharata 7.162.4 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 162, Shloka 4

द्रोणपर्व — अध्याय १६२: प्रातःसंध्यायां युद्धप्रवृत्तिः तथा रजोमेघे संमूढता

Devanagari script

शक्तितस्तात युध्यामस्त्यक्त्वा प्राणानभीतवत्‌ | अहं कर्णश्न शल्यश्न कृपो हार्दिक्य एव च । निमेषात्‌ पाण्डवीं सेनां क्षपयेम नृपोत्तम

Transliteration

śaktitas tāta yudhyāmas tyaktvā prāṇān abhītavat | ahaṃ karṇaś ca śalyaś ca kṛpo hārdikya eva ca | nimeṣāt pāṇḍavīṃ senāṃ kṣapayema nṛpottama ||

Translation

三阇耶说道：“孩子啊，舍弃对生命的执著，我们无所畏惧，尽己所能而战。噢，诸王之最！我与迦尔纳、沙利耶、克利帕以及哈尔迪迦（即克利多跋摩）在眨眼之间，便能歼灭般度族的军队。”

Word by Word

• {'śaktitas': 'according to one’s power

• as far as one is able', 'tāta': 'dear son (affectionate address, here to Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s son)', 'yudhyāmaḥ': 'we fight (1st person plural, present)', 'tyaktvā': 'having abandoned

• giving up', 'prāṇān': 'life-breaths

• vital existence', 'abhītavat': 'fearlessly

• like one without fear', 'ahaṃ': 'I', 'karṇaḥ': 'Karṇa (chief Kaurava ally)', 'śalyaḥ': 'Śalya (king of Madra, charioteer/warrior)', 'kṛpaḥ': 'Kṛpa (Kṛpācārya, preceptor/warrior)', 'hārdikyaḥ': 'Hārdikya, i.e., Kṛtavarmā (of the Vṛṣṇis)', 'nimeṣāt': 'in a wink

• within the time of a blink', 'pāṇḍavīm senām': 'the Pāṇḍava army', 'kṣapayema': 'we could destroy/consume

• cause to perish (potential/optative sense)', 'nṛpottama': 'O best of kings'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by address nṛpottama)
• Duryodhana (implied by address tāta in context)
• Karṇa
• Śalya
• Kṛpa (Kṛpācārya)
• Hārdikya (Kṛtavarmā)
• Pāṇḍavas
• Pāṇḍava army

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights a warrior ideal often voiced in the epic: fearlessness and readiness to risk life in battle (kṣatriya-dharma). Ethically, it also shows how confidence and rhetoric can escalate violence—detachment from one’s own life is presented as valor, yet it can be paired with overconfidence about destroying others.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the Kuru king (and addresses his son) that their leading fighters—Karṇa, Śalya, Kṛpa, and Kṛtavarmā—are fighting without fear and claims they could swiftly wipe out the Pāṇḍava forces. It functions as a morale-boosting assertion amid the Drona Parva battle reports.