Shloka 31
Chapter 51: Saṃdhyākāla-saṃhāra
Evening Withdrawal after Arjuna’s Counter-Advance
तेषां जवेनापततां भीष्म: शान्तनवो रणे | पाज्चाल्यं त्रिभिरानर्च्छत् सात्यकिं नवभि: शरै:
teṣāṁ javena āpatatāṁ bhīṣmaḥ śāntanavo raṇe | pāñcālyaṁ tribhir ānarccchat sātyakiṁ navabhiḥ śaraiḥ ||
যখন সেই সব মহারথী প্রবল বেগে ধেয়ে এল, তখন রণে শান্তনুনন্দন ভীষ্ম তাদের প্রতিরোধ করলেন। তিনি পাঞ্চাল ধৃষ্টদ্যুম্নকে তিনটি এবং সাত্যকিকে নয়টি শর দ্বারা বিদ্ধ করলেন।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights kṣatriya-dharma in its stark form: a commander must restrain an onrushing enemy through measured, effective force. It also implicitly underscores the ethical weight of war—skill and duty operate within a tragic field where even righteous discipline entails harm.
As a group of warriors charge forward, Bhīṣma counters their momentum. He wounds Dhṛṣṭadyumna with three arrows and Sātyaki with nine, demonstrating his battlefield superiority and his role as the Kaurava bulwark in the Kurukṣetra war.