Shloka 486
Adhyāya 141 — Night duels: Śaineya and Bhūriśravas; Droṇi and Ghaṭotkaca; Bhīma and Duryodhana
आकाशे भरतश्रेष्ठ पावक: समजायत । भरतश्रेष्ठ! उन दोनों पुरुषसिंहोंके बाणोंके परस्पर टकरानेसे आकाशमें आग प्रकट हो जाती थी
ākāśe bharataśreṣṭha pāvakaḥ samajāyata | bharataśreṣṭha! ubhayor dvayoḥ puruṣasiṃhayor bāṇānāṃ parasparaṃ ṭakkarāt ākāśe 'gnir abhavat |
Sañjaya said: “O best of the Bharatas, fire seemed to arise in the very sky. Indeed, O Bharata-foremost, as the arrows of those two lion-like warriors struck against one another, flames appeared overhead.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the terrifying consequence of unchecked martial rivalry: extraordinary skill, when harnessed to anger and enmity, magnifies destruction so greatly that it is portrayed as disturbing even the heavens. It invites reflection on how power without restraint can turn glory into calamity.
Sañjaya describes an intense duel in which two great warriors shoot volleys of arrows that collide midair. The impacts are so forceful that they are poetically said to generate fire in the sky, emphasizing the ferocity and supernatural scale of the combat.