Mahabharata 7.116.86 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 116, Shloka 86
Śaineya’s Breakthrough and Reunion with Arjuna (शैनेयस्य समागमः)
अथान्यद् धनुरादाय त्यक्त्वा तच्च महद् धनु: । विशीर्ण भरतश्रेष्ठ: हार्दिक्य: परवीरहा
sañjaya uvāca |
athānyad dhanur ādāya tyaktvā tac ca mahad dhanuḥ |
viśīrṇaḥ bharataśreṣṭhaḥ hārdikyaḥ paravīrahā ||
Sañjaya sprach: Dann, o Bester der Bhāratas, Hārdikya (Kṛtavarmā), der Bezwinger feindlicher Helden, warf den großen Bogen, als er zersplittert war, beiseite und ergriff einen anderen. Im unablässigen Gedränge der Schlacht traf er die Pāṇḍava-Krieger mit Pfeilsalven und durchbohrte auch Śikhaṇḍin mit zahlreichen Schäften—ein Bild unerbittlicher kriegerischer Entschlossenheit, in dem Können und Wildheit jede Pause des Erbarmens im Gesetz des Krieges überstrahlen.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds kṣatriya conduct in war: when a weapon fails, a warrior must remain composed and continue the fight with another weapon. Ethically, it also highlights the Mahābhārata’s tension between duty-driven valor and the grim human cost of relentless violence.
Sañjaya reports that Kṛtavarmā (Hārdikya), after his large bow is shattered, immediately takes up another bow and resumes attacking—wounding Pāṇḍava fighters and also striking Śikhaṇḍin with several arrows.
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