Shloka 18
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
शृज़मग्निर्बभूवास्य भलल: सोमो विशाम्पते,वृषभस्यास्य निनदं श्रुत्वा भयकरं महत् | विनाशमगमंस्तत्र तारका: सुरशत्रव:
śṛṅgam agnir babhūvāsya bhallaḥ somo viśāmpate | vṛṣabhasyāsya ninadaṃ śrutvā bhayakaraṃ mahat | vināśam agamans tatra tārakāḥ suraśatravaḥ ||
Duryodhana sprach: „O Herr der Völker! Die Pfeilspitze wurde an ihrem Ende wie Feuer und in ihrem Glanz wie der Mond. Als man das mächtige, furchterregende Brüllen dieses stiergleichen Helden hörte, schienen die Sterne dort—Feinde der Götter—dem Verderben entgegenzustürzen.“
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war magnifies perception: weapons and sounds are described with cosmic metaphors (fire, moon, stars) to convey moral and psychological intensity—fear, awe, and the sense that adharma-driven conflict disturbs even the imagined order of the cosmos.
Duryodhana describes a terrifying battlefield moment: a barbed arrow gleams like fire and moonlight, and the thunderous roar of a ‘bull-like’ warrior is so dreadful that it is poetically said to drive the star-like enemies of the gods toward destruction—an omen-like image of impending ruin.