Mahabharata 3.21.8 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 21, Shloka 8
Dvārakā’s Distress and the Saubha Engagement (द्वारकाव्यग्रता तथा सौभयुद्धम्)
स तु बाणवरोत्पीडाद् विस््रवत्यसृगुल्बणम् | अभिवृष्टे यथा मेघे गिरिगैरिकधातुमान्
sa tu bāṇavarotpīḍād visravaty asṛg ulbaṇam | abhivṛṣṭe yathā meghe girigairikadhātumān ||
قال فايُو: «غير أنّه، وقد عُذِّب بضغط السهام، أخذ يسكب مجرىً مروّعًا من الدم. وكما أنّ الجبل الغنيّ بالمغرة الحمراء وأصباغ المعادن إذا هطلت عليه سحابةٌ مطرًا غزيرًا أرسل سيولًا مائلة إلى الحمرة، كذلك هو أيضًا—وقد نُفِذت أطرافه بالسهام—أطلق تدفّقاتٍ مخيفة من الدم.»
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark cost of violence: even heroic conflict results in intense bodily suffering. Ethically, it functions as a sobering reminder that valor and victory are inseparable from pain and the grave consequences of warfare.
Vāyu describes a combatant (previously introduced in the passage) whose body, pierced and oppressed by many arrows, is bleeding profusely. The scene is intensified through a simile: like a mineral-rich mountain releasing red torrents when drenched by rainclouds, the wounded figure pours out streams of blood.
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