Shloka 31
मेघवृन्दपरिभ्रष्टा विच्छिन्नेव शतह्नदा । क्रोधमें भरे हुए अर्जुनद्वारा काटी हुई वह शक्ति मेघोंके समूहसे निर्मुक्त होकर गिरी हुई बिजलीके समान पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़ी ।।
sañjaya uvāca | meghavṛnda-paribhraṣṭā vicchinneva śatahrādā | krodhena bhareṇa arjunena chinnā sā śaktir megha-samūhāt nirmuktā bhūmau vidyut-iva nipapāta || chinnāṃ tāṃ śaktim ālokya bhīṣmaḥ krodha-samanvitaḥ | atāḍayan raṇe bhīṣmaṃ sahitāḥ sarve sṛñjayāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Like a lightning-flash torn from a mass of clouds, the spear-weapon—severed by Arjuna in the heat of wrath—fell to the earth. Seeing that spear cut down, Bhīṣma, filled with anger, was assailed in the battle as all the Sṛñjaya warriors, acting together, pressed him from every side with a storm of weapons—maces, clubs, axes, spears, slings, and many kinds of arrows—seeking to wound and restrain the grandsire amid the fury of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how anger (krodha) intensifies violence and escalates conflict: a single act in wrath (Arjuna severing the spear) triggers further wrath (Bhīṣma’s anger) and a collective onslaught. It implicitly contrasts martial duty with the ethical danger of being driven by uncontrolled emotion.
Sañjaya describes a spear-weapon cut by Arjuna falling like lightning from clouds. Bhīṣma, enraged at this turn, is then attacked from all sides by the Sṛñjaya warriors using many kinds of missiles and hand-weapons on the battlefield.