Shloka 12

अन्धकार-रजःसंमूढे रणाङ्गणे प्रदीपप्रकाशः | Illumination of the Army in Darkness and Dust

Devanagari script

ततो बाणसहस्राणि प्रेषयामास पाण्डव: । सूतपुत्रवधाकाड्क्षी त्वरमाण: पराक्रमी

Transliteration

tato bāṇasahasrāṇi preṣayāmāsa pāṇḍavaḥ | sūtaputravadhākāṅkṣī tvaramāṇaḥ parākrāmī ||

Translation

قال سنجيا: ثم إنّ بطلَ الباندَفَة، المتعطّشَ لقتل ابنِ السائق (كَرْنَة)، أسرعَ بشجاعةٍ عظيمة وأطلق آلافَ السهام.

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

बाण-सहस्राणिthousands of arrows

प्रेषयामासsent, dispatched

पाण्डवःthe Pandava (Arjuna)

सूत-पुत्र-वध-आकाङ्क्षीdesiring the killing of the charioteer’s son (Karna)

त्वरमाणःhastening

पराक्रमीvaliant, mighty

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Pāṇḍava (a Pāṇḍu-son warrior)

Sūtaputra (Karṇa)

arrows (bāṇa)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds determined effort (udyama) and warrior resolve in a dharma-framed war: once a goal is fixed in battle, the kṣatriya acts swiftly and forcefully. At the same time, it implicitly raises the ethical gravity of intent—seeking another’s death—even when sanctioned by the battlefield context.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that a Pāṇḍava warrior, intent on killing the ‘sūtaputra’ (Karna), rapidly releases a massive volley of arrows, intensifying the combat.