Shloka 11
Daśame’hani Bhīṣma-yuddham — Śikhaṇḍī-rakṣaṇa, Arjuna-prabhāva, Duryodhana-āśraya-vākyam
ताभ्यां मुक्ता: शरा राजन्नन्तरिक्षे विरेजिरे हंसा इव महाराज शरत्काले नभस्तले,महाराज! जैसे शरद-ऋतुके आकाशमें हंस उड़ते दिखायी देते हैं, उसी प्रकार उन दोनोंके छोड़े हुए बाण आकाशमें सुशोभित हो रहे थे
sañjaya uvāca |
tābhyāṁ muktāḥ śarā rājann antarīkṣe virejire |
haṁsā iva mahārāja śaratkāle nabhastale ||
Sanjaya said: O King, the arrows released by those two shone in the mid-air; O great king, they appeared like swans seen flying across the sky in the autumn season.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war can appear outwardly splendid—arrows gleaming like swans in autumn—yet its inner reality is violence. It invites discernment: aesthetic beauty in description does not sanctify the ethical weight of harm, even within the frame of kṣatriya warfare.
Sanjaya describes a duel in which two warriors have just released volleys of arrows. Those arrows glitter in the sky, and he compares their flight to swans moving across the clear autumn heavens.