Shloka 39
ताभ्यां मुक्ता: शरा राजन गार्ध्रपत्राश्चकाशिरे । श्रेण्य: शरदि मत्तानां सारसानामिवाम्बरे,राजन! उन दोनोंके छोड़े हुए गीधकी पाँखवाले बाण शरद्-ऋतुके आकाशमें मतवाले सारसोंकी श्रेणियोंके समान सुशोभित होते थे
tābhyāṁ muktāḥ śarā rājan gārdhrapatrāś cakāśire | śreṇyaḥ śaradi mattānāṁ sārasānām ivāmbare ||
Sañjaya said: O King, the arrows released by those two—fletched with vulture-feathers—shone brilliantly, appearing in the autumn sky like orderly flights of intoxicated cranes. The simile heightens the scene’s beauty even amid violence, showing how martial skill can make the battlefield resemble a natural spectacle while still serving the grim purpose of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how epic narration can present even warfare through refined poetic vision: beauty and order (crane-flights in autumn) are invoked to describe deadly weapons, reminding readers that skill and aesthetic perception do not erase the ethical weight of violence but frame it within the larger tragic grandeur of dharma-conflict.
Sañjaya describes arrows shot by two warriors; the vulture-feathered shafts gleam as they fly in formation, and their movement across the sky is compared to lines of cranes in the autumn season.