Shloka 76

Devanagari script

अथ संधाय वायव्यमस्त्रमस्त्रविदां वर:

Transliteration

atha sandhāya vāyavyam astram astravidāṁ varaḥ

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: Dann rief der Vortrefflichste unter den Waffenmeistern, nachdem er sein Ziel festgelegt hatte, das Vāyavya-Astra herbei — das vom Wind geborene Geschoss — und kündete damit eine bewusste Steigerung der Schlacht an, durch den Einsatz besonderer Astras statt bloßer Körperkraft.

Word by Word

अथthen

संधायhaving fixed/aimed; having joined/applied

वायव्यम्the Vāyu-related (wind) (weapon)

अस्त्रम्weapon; missile

अस्त्रविदाम्of the knowers of weapons

वरःthe best; the foremost

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Vāyavya-astra (Wind weapon)

Vāyu (Wind-god)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how expertise and power in war can shift conflict from ordinary combat to mantra-invoked astras, raising implicit ethical stakes: mastery must be governed by restraint and dharma, because specialized weapons intensify harm beyond conventional limits.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that a supreme weapon-master takes aim and deploys the Vāyavya-astra, a wind-based supernatural weapon, indicating a tactical move to counter an opponent’s force or to break a difficult battlefield situation.