Shloka 18
स तान् निषादानुपसंहरंस्तदा रज: समुद्धूय नभ:स्पृशं महत् | समुद्रकुक्षोी च विशोषयन् पय: समीपजान् भूधरजान् विचालयन्,उन निषादोंका संहार करनेके लिये उन्होंने उस समय इतनी अधिक धूल उड़ायी, जो पृथ्वीसे आकाशतक छा गयी। वहाँ समुद्रकी कुक्षिमें जो जल था, उसका शोषण करके उन्होंने समीपवर्ती पर्वतीय वृक्षोंको भी विकम्पित कर दिया
sa tān niṣādān upasaṃharan tadā rajaḥ samuddhūya nabhaḥspṛśaṃ mahat | samudrakukṣau ca viśoṣayan payaḥ samīpajān bhūdharajān vicālayan ||
Then, intent on destroying those Niṣādas, he whipped up a vast cloud of dust that rose from the earth and reached the sky. He even drew out the waters held in the ocean’s depths, and by the force of his movement he shook the trees growing on the nearby mountains.
गरुड उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the epic motif that extraordinary power, when directed toward a goal (here, the destruction of enemies), can have vast collateral effects on the natural world; it implicitly raises an ethical awareness of how violence and force disturb the wider order beyond the immediate target.
Garuḍa describes (or the narration reports through his speech) his overwhelming assault on the Niṣādas: he raises a sky-reaching dust cloud, affects even the ocean’s waters, and shakes the mountain trees—emphasizing the superhuman scale of his action.