Shloka 11
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
लोहाभिसारो निर्वेत्त: कुरुक्षेत्रमकर्दमम् । सम: पन्था भृतास्तेश्वा: श्वो युध्यस्व सकेशव:
ulūka uvāca | lohābhisāro nirvṛttaḥ kurukṣetram akardamam | samaḥ panthā bhṛtās te 'śvāḥ śvo yudhyasva sa-keśavaḥ |
Ulūka sprach: „Die Vorbereitungen des Eisens — Waffen und Kriegsgerät — sind vollendet; Kurukṣetra ist vom Schlamm befreit; der Weg ist geebnet, und deine Pferde sind wohlgenährt und in bester Verfassung. Darum komm morgen bei Tagesanbruch und kämpfe, mit Keśava (Kṛṣṇa) an deiner Seite.“
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how deliberate preparation and strategic timing are used to compel action in war; ethically, it shows the rhetoric of provocation—pressing the opponent to fight immediately—highlighting the tension between duty (kṣatriya warfare) and the manipulative escalation that precedes violence.
Ulūka, acting as a messenger from the Kaurava side, taunts and summons the opposing party to come the next morning to Kurukṣetra for battle, emphasizing that weapons are ready, the ground has dried, the road is smooth, and the horses are well-fed—signaling full readiness for war.