Shloka 47

Devanagari script

युगान्ते सर्वभूतानि धूमकेतुरिवोत्थित: । जैसे प्रलयकालमें प्रकट हुई अग्नि सम्पूर्ण भूतोंको दग्ध कर देती है, उसी प्रकार अर्जुनने अपने अस्त्र-शस्त्रोंके तेजसे समस्त कौरव-सैनिकोंको जलाना आरम्भ किया ।। ४६ हे || तेन बाणसहस्रौघैर्गजाश्वरथयोधिन:

Transliteration

yugānte sarvabhūtāni dhūmaketur ivotthitaḥ | tena bāṇasahasraughair gajāśvarathayodhināḥ ||

Translation

قال سنجيا: «كما في نهاية الدهر حين ينهض لهيبٌ كالمذنب فيحرق جميع الكائنات، كذلك شرع أرجونا يحرق جيش الكاورافا كله بإشعاع أسلحته العنيف. ثم، بسيلٍ من آلاف السهام، ضرب المحاربين الذين يقاتلون على ظهور الفيلة والخيول ومن فوق المركبات الحربية.»

Word by Word

युगान्तेat the end of an age

सर्वभूतानिall beings

धूमकेतुःa comet

इवlike/as

उत्थितःarisen/risen up

तेनby him/thereby

बाणसहस्रौघैःwith torrents of thousands of arrows

गजelephant

अश्वhorse

रथchariot

योधिनःwarriors/fighters

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Arjuna

Kaurava army

arrows (bāṇa)

weapons (astra-śastra)

elephants (gaja)

horses (aśva)

chariots (ratha)

dhūmaketu (comet)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames battlefield violence within a dharmic and cosmic register: Arjuna’s force is likened to end-of-age destruction, emphasizing the overwhelming, impersonal power unleashed when warriors fulfill their kṣatriya role in a war understood as fated and consequential. The ethical tension is implicit—such power is terrifying, yet presented as operating within the narrative’s sense of duty and inevitability.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes Arjuna’s onslaught: Arjuna’s weapons blaze like a doomsday fire, and he begins burning through the Kaurava ranks. He then showers the battlefield with massive volleys of arrows, striking warriors mounted on elephants, horses, and chariots.