Shloka 49
कर्णार्जुनसमागमः — The Karṇa–Arjuna Confrontation
Cosmic Spectatorship and Vows
राजन्! फिर तो उस महासमरमें सहस्रों, लाखों, करोड़ों और अरबों तीखे बाण उस अस्त्रसे प्रकट होने लगे ।।
rājan! punaḥ sa mahāsamare sahasrāṇi lakṣāṇi koṭyo 'rbudāni ca tīkṣṇabāṇāḥ tasmād astrāt prādurabhavan || jvalitais taiḥ śarair ghoraiḥ kaṅkabārhiṇavājitaiḥ | saṃchannā pāṇḍavī senā na prājñāyata kiñcana ||
Sañjaya sprach: O König, da begannen in jener großen Schlacht aus jener Waffe scharfe Pfeile hervorzubrechen—zu Tausenden, zu Hunderttausenden, zu Millionen und darüber hinaus. Von jenen lodernden, schrecklichen Geschossen—befiedert mit Geierfedern und geschmückt mit Pfauenplumen—wurde das Heer der Pāṇḍavas völlig bedeckt, sodass man nichts mehr klar erkennen konnte. Die Szene zeigt, wie eine ungebremste Steigerung der Kriegsmacht das Feld in Blindheit und Verwirrung verwandelt, in der Urteilskraft und menschliche Zurückhaltung von bloßer Gewalt überwältigt werden.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how the unrestrained deployment of extraordinary weapons (astras) can eclipse clarity and moral judgment: when violence multiplies beyond measure, the battlefield becomes a space of blindness where discrimination (viveka) and humane restraint are easily lost.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a powerful astra has released an immense rain of sharp, blazing arrows. These dreadful shafts, described by their feathered fletching, so densely cover the Pāṇḍava forces that visibility and recognition on the field collapse.