Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 103
Adhyāya 14: Śalya’s Missile-Pressure and the Pāṇḍava Convergence (शल्यस्य शरवर्षम्)
अवाकिरत्तां पृतनां मेघो वृष्ट्येव पर्वतम् महाराज! तदनन्तर अर्जुनने झुकी हुई गाँठवाले बाणोंद्वारा आपकी उस सेनाको उसी प्रकार ढक दिया, जैसे मेघ पानीकी वर्षासे पर्वतको आच्छादित कर देता है
avākirattāṁ pṛtanāṁ megho vṛṣṭyeva parvatam, mahārāja! tadanantaram arjunena jhukī-huī gāṇṭhavāle bāṇair yāṁ te senāṁ tathāchādayat, yathā meghaḥ salilavarṣeṇa parvataṁ samantād āvṛṇoti.
Sanjaya said: “O King, just as a rain-cloud drenches and covers a mountain with its downpour, so too did Arjuna, immediately thereafter, blanket your army with his bent, knotted arrows—overwhelming it in a storm of missiles.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical frame of kṣatriya warfare in the epic: disciplined skill and resolute action can decisively protect one’s cause, and the narrative praises mastery used in the service of one’s duty rather than mere cruelty.
Sanjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Arjuna unleashes a dense volley of arrows, so thick that it seems to cover the Kaurava forces the way a rain-cloud’s downpour covers a mountain.
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