Mahabharata 7.175.57 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 175, Shloka 57
रात्रौ हि राक्षसा भूयो भवन्त्यमितविक्रमा: । बलवन्त: सुदुर्धर्षा: शूरा विक्रान्तचारिण:
rātrau hi rākṣasā bhūyo bhavanty amitavikramāḥ | balavantaḥ sudurdharṣāḥ śūrā vikrāntacāriṇaḥ ||
Vāyu-deva sprach: „Für die Rākṣasas ist die Nacht die Zeit, in der ihre Macht noch weiter anschwillt. Dann werden sie überaus stark — schwer anzugreifen, heldenhaft und umherziehend mit kühner, wuchtiger Kraft.“
श्रीवायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a strategic-ethical caution: circumstances such as time (night) can amplify an opponent’s natural advantages. Wise conduct in war includes recognizing such asymmetries and avoiding reckless engagement when conditions favor adharma-aligned or supernatural forces.
Vāyu-deva warns that rākṣasas become more formidable at night—stronger, harder to defeat, and more aggressively mobile—implying that nighttime confrontation with them is especially dangerous and requires heightened prudence.
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