Shloka 47
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
विचित्रमृतुभि: षड्भि: कृत्वा संवत्सरं धनुः । छायामेवात्मनश्षक्रे धनुज्यामक्षयां रणे,छहों ऋतुओंसे युक्त संवत्सरको विचित्र धनुष बनाकर अपनी छायाको ही महादेवजीने उस धनुषकी प्रत्यंचा बनायी, जो रणभूमिमें कभी नष्ट होनेवाली नहीं थी
vicitram ṛtubhiḥ ṣaḍbhiḥ kṛtvā saṁvatsaraṁ dhanuḥ | chāyām evātmanaḥ śakre dhanujyām akṣayāṁ raṇe ||
Duryodhana sprach: „Nachdem er das Jahr—wundersam durch seine sechs Jahreszeiten—zu einem Bogen geformt hatte, machte Śakra (Indra) seinen eigenen Schatten zur Bogensehne, einer Sehne, die im Kampf niemals verschleißt.“
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses cosmic symbolism to portray an ideal of inexhaustible martial power: when weapons are imagined as grounded in the very order of time (the year and seasons), their efficacy becomes ‘akṣaya’—suggesting that true strength is framed as something supported by a larger, enduring order rather than mere human effort.
In the Karṇa Parva battle context, Duryodhana is describing a marvelously fashioned bow: the year, with its six seasons, is imagined as the bow itself, and Śakra (Indra) is said to have made his own shadow into an imperishable bowstring—an image meant to emphasize extraordinary, battle-worthy potency.