Shloka 4
भीष्मस्य मण्डलव्यूहः — Bhīṣma’s Maṇḍala Battle-Formation and the Opening Engagements
क्षिपतश्न परांस्तस्य रणे शत्रून् विनिघ्नतः । ददृशे रूपमत्यर्थ मेघस्येव प्रवर्षत:
kṣipataś ca parāṁs tasya raṇe śatrūn vinighnataḥ | dadṛśe rūpam atyarthaṁ meghasyeva pravarṣataḥ ||
قال سنجيا: إذ كان يقذف سهامه البعيدة المدى بسرعة خاطفة ويصرع الأعداء في لُجّة القتال، بدا هيئته عجيبًا غاية العجب—كغيمة مثقلة بالمطر تُفرغ وابلها انهمارًا.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse primarily offers a poetic battlefield simile: disciplined martial skill can appear like a natural force—overwhelming and continuous. Ethically, it highlights how war turns human agency into a relentless mechanism of harm, inviting reflection on the awe and terror such power evokes.
Sañjaya describes a warrior in combat rapidly shooting successive arrows, taking new arrows, placing them on the bow, and killing enemies; his appearance is compared to a cloud pouring rain because the arrows fall in an unbroken, abundant stream.