Shloka 186
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
कुड्मलश्चाभवद् विष्णुस्तस्मिन्निषुवरे तदा । प्रजानाथ! उस बाणका शुंग (गाँठ) अग्नि हुए। उसका भल्ल (फल) चन्द्रमा हुए और उस श्रेष्ठ बाणके अग्रभागमें भगवान् विष्णु प्रतिष्ठित हुए
kuḍmalaś cābhavad viṣṇus tasmin niṣuvare tadā | prajānātha! asya bāṇasya śuṅgaḥ (gāṇṭhaḥ) agnir abhavat | tasya bhallaḥ (phalaḥ) candramā abhavat, tasya śreṣṭha-bāṇasya agrabhāge bhagavān viṣṇuḥ pratiṣṭhitaḥ |
Duryodhana sprach: „O Herr der Geschöpfe! In jenem Augenblick war Viṣṇu selbst in jenem vortrefflichen Pfeil gegenwärtig. Sein knotenartiges Gelenk loderte als Feuer; seine scharfe Spitze glänzte wie der Mond; und auf der vordersten Spitze jenes höchsten Geschosses war der erhabene Herr Viṣṇu fest gegründet.“
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes that even in the violence of war, decisive power is portrayed as resting with the divine and with cosmic order: the weapon becomes a vessel of higher agency (Viṣṇu), warning against human arrogance and implying that victory and justice are not merely products of strength but of a larger moral-metaphysical governance.
Duryodhana describes a wondrous transformation of an ‘excellent arrow’: its parts take on cosmic forms—fire at the joint, the moon as the head—and Viṣṇu is said to be established at its tip. The description heightens the epic’s sense of supernatural involvement in the battlefield events.