Shloka 79
अस्त्रयुद्धे द्रौणिपार्थसंघर्षः — Karṇa’s Bhārgavāstra and the Search for Yudhiṣṭhira
Chapter 45
बाहुभ्यामुद्धरेद् भूमिं दहेत् क्रुद्ध इमा: प्रजा: । पातयेत् त्रिदिवाद देवान् योडर्जुनं समरे जयेत्,जो समरांगणमें अर्जुनको जीत ले, वह मानो अपनी दोनों भुजाओंसे पृथ्वीको उठा सकता है, कुपित होनेपर इस सारी प्रजाको दग्ध कर सकता है तथा देवताओंको भी स्वर्गसे नीचे गिरा सकता है
bāhubhyām uddhared bhūmiṃ dahet kruddha imāḥ prajāḥ | pātayet tridivād devān yo 'rjunaṃ samare jayet ||
Śalya sprach: „Wer Arjuna in der Schlacht besiegen könnte, der könnte gleichsam die Erde mit beiden Armen emporheben; im Zorn könnte er diese Völker verbrennen; ja, er könnte sogar die Götter aus dem Himmel stürzen.“
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses deliberate exaggeration to convey that defeating a truly great warrior is not a trivial victory but a world-shaking feat; it highlights how power in war carries immense moral and cosmic stakes, and how reputation and psychological framing shape battlefield ethics and resolve.
Śalya is speaking about the extraordinary difficulty of overcoming Arjuna. By portraying the conqueror of Arjuna as capable of impossible, cosmic acts—lifting the earth, burning peoples, toppling gods—he intensifies the sense of Arjuna’s might and the gravity of the contest in the Karṇa Parva’s war setting.