Shloka 9
Saubhadra under Concentrated Assault; Pārṣata’s Intervention and Escalation
आददे च शरं घोरें पार्षतान्तचिकीर्षया । शक्राशनिसमस्पर्श कालदण्डमिवापरम्,तत्पश्चात् धृष्टद्युम्मका अन्त कर डालनेकी इच्छासे द्वितीय कालदण्डके समान एक भयंकर बाण हाथमें लिया, जिसका स्पर्श इन्द्रके वज़्के समान कठोर था
ādade ca śaraṁ ghoraṁ pārṣatāntacikīrṣayā | śakrāśanisamasparśaṁ kāladaṇḍam ivāparam ||
Sanjaya sprach: Dann ergriff er einen schrecklichen Pfeil, entschlossen, den Sohn Pārṣatas (Dhṛṣṭadyumna) zu vernichten—einen Pfeil, dessen Berührung hart war wie Indras Vajra, gleichsam ein zweiter Stab des Todes selbst.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the terrifying momentum of war: intent (cikīrṣā) and wrath can make a warrior’s action feel like an instrument of Kāla (Death). It invites reflection on how duty-bound violence, even when socially sanctioned in battle, carries an ethical gravity and a sense of fatal inevitability.
Sanjaya describes a combatant taking up a fearsome arrow specifically to kill Dhṛṣṭadyumna (called Pārṣata). The arrow is compared to Indra’s thunderbolt in hardness and to a second staff of Death in its lethal power.