Shloka 15
Irāvān-nidhana-anantaraṃ Ghaṭotkaca-nādaḥ
After Irāvān’s fall: Ghaṭotkaca’s roar and the clash with Duryodhana
अथैनं छिन्नथन्वानं नाराचेन स्तनान्तरे । निर्बिभेद रणे राजा सर्वसैन्यस्य पश्यत:,राजन! धनुष कट जानेपर महाबली राजा युधिष्ठिरने श्रुतायुकी छातीमें नाराचसे प्रहार किया। फिर उन्होंने समस्त सेनाओंके देखते-देखते रणक्षेत्रमें महामना श्रुतायुके घोड़ोंको तुरंत मार डाला और उसके सारथिको भी शीघ्र ही मौतके मुखमें डाल दिया
atha enaṃ chinnathanvānaṃ nārācena stanāntare | nirbibheda raṇe rājā sarvasainyasya paśyataḥ ||
Sañjaya sprach: Da durchbohrte der König, vor den Augen des ganzen Heeres, ihn—obwohl sein Bogen bereits zerschnitten war—mit einem nārāca-Pfeil mitten in die Brust auf dem Schlachtfeld.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the uncompromising demands of kṣatriya-dharma in war: decisive action under public scrutiny, where victory and protection of one’s forces are treated as overriding duties, even amid the moral harshness of battlefield violence.
Sañjaya reports that a king pierces an opponent—whose bow has already been cut—with a nārāca arrow in the chest, and does so in full view of the assembled armies, emphasizing the dramatic, witnessed nature of the combat.