Shloka 8
भूरिश्रवसः गर्हा, प्रायोपवेशः, सात्यकिकृतशिरच्छेदः
Bhūriśravas’s Censure, Prāyopaveśa, and Sātyaki’s Beheading
दुर्मर्षणं द्वादशभिरष्टाभिश्न विविंशतिम् । सत्यव्रतं च नवभिर्विजयं दशभि: शरै:,उन्होंने द्रोणाचार्यको तीन, दुःसहको नौ, विकर्णको पचीस, चित्रसेनको सात, दुर्मीषणको बारह, विविंशतिको आठ, सत्यव्रतको नौ तथा विजयको दस बाणोंसे घायल किया
sañjaya uvāca | durmarṣaṇaṃ dvādaśabhir aṣṭābhiś ca viviṃśatim | satyavrataṃ ca navabhir vijayaṃ daśabhiḥ śaraiḥ |
Sañjaya said: He struck Durmarṣaṇa with twelve arrows, Viviṃśati with eight, Satyavrata with nine, and Vijaya with ten. In the grim press of battle, the warrior’s measured volleys single out named opponents one by one, showing how the war’s ‘dharma’ has narrowed into disciplined violence and the relentless accounting of harm.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s stark wartime ethic: prowess is expressed as controlled, deliberate action, yet the moral cost is implicit—dharma in battle becomes a duty-bound precision that still results in suffering for named individuals.
Sañjaya reports a sequence of battlefield strikes in which a warrior wounds specific opponents—Durmarṣaṇa, Viviṃśati, Satyavrata, and Vijaya—each with a stated number of arrows, emphasizing the intensity and methodical nature of the combat.