Mahabharata 3.39.48 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 39, Shloka 48
Arjuna’s Himalayan Departure and the Commencement of Severe Tapas
Janamejaya’s Inquiry; Sages Approach Śiva
हत्वा चैनं धनुष्कोट्या शूलाग्रेणेव कुज्जरम् । नयामि दण्डधारस्य यमस्य सदन प्रति
hatvā cainaṁ dhanuṣkoṭyā śūlāgreṇeva kuñjaram | nayāmi daṇḍadhārasya yamasya sadanaṁ prati ||
“ধনুৰ কোটিৰে ইয়াক বধ কৰিম—শূলৰ অগ্ৰে আঘাতপ্ৰাপ্ত হাতীৰ দৰে—আৰু ইয়াক দণ্ডধাৰী যমৰ সদনলৈ পঠাই দিম।”
किरयात उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how violent intent is rhetorically justified by invoking cosmic justice: the speaker frames killing as delivering the opponent to Yama’s domain, suggesting that death is not merely personal triumph but an act placed under the larger order of punishment and judgment.
The Kīrāta, angered and determined, declares he will kill his opponent by striking with the bow’s tip, comparing the blow to a spear-point wounding an elephant, and says he will send the foe to Yama’s abode.
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