Shloka 14
भीष्मवधोपाय-प्रश्नः (Inquiry into the means to overcome Bhīṣma) | Chapter 103
शराश्ष निशिता: पीता निश्चरन्ति सम संयुगे | वनात् फुल्लद्रुमाद् राजन् भ्रमराणामिव व्रजा:
śarāś ca niśitāḥ pītā niścaranti sama-saṃyuge | vanāt phulla-drumād rājan bhramarāṇām iva vrajāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: In the thick of that even-matched battle, sharp, gleaming arrows kept streaming forth from his bow. O King, they poured out like swarms of bees issuing from a woodland filled with trees in full bloom—an image that exalts martial prowess while reminding us that war, though ordered in its grim rhythm, unleashes forces as unstoppable as nature itself.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse primarily offers poetic battlefield description rather than a direct moral injunction; implicitly, it shows how martial skill in a dharma-governed war can appear as natural and relentless as a swarm in spring—suggesting that once conflict is unleashed, its momentum becomes difficult to restrain and demands disciplined responsibility from warriors.
Sañjaya describes a warrior (contextually, the archer being praised) releasing a continuous stream of sharp, shining arrows in the midst of battle, comparing their outflow to swarms of bees emerging from a blossoming forest.