Shloka 108
वासवी-शक्तेः प्रयोगः, घटोत्कच-वधोत्तर-शोकः, व्यासोपदेशश्च
The Vāsavī Spear’s Use, Post-Ghaṭotkaca Grief, and Vyāsa’s Counsel
ततः स तोयदो भूत्वा नील: सेन्द्रायुधो दिवि । अश्मवृष्टिभिरत्युग्रो दौणिमाच्छादयद् रणे,तत्पश्चात् वह आकाशमें इन्द्रधनुषसहित अत्यन्त भयंकर नील मेघ बनकर पत्थरोंकी वर्षसे रणभूमिमें अश्वत्थामाको आच्छादित करने लगा
tataḥ sa toyado bhūtvā nīlaḥ sendrāyudho divi | aśmavṛṣṭibhir atyugro dauṇim ācchādayad raṇe ||
Sañjaya said: Then he became like a rain-laden cloud—dark blue in the sky and adorned with an Indra’s bow (rainbow). With a most fierce shower of stones, he covered Droṇa’s son Aśvatthāmā on the battlefield.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how unchecked martial rage can become as overwhelming and indiscriminate as a natural calamity. By likening the attacker to a storm-cloud with a terrifying stone-rain, it implicitly warns that power in war, when driven by wrath, can eclipse humane restraint and ethical clarity.
Sañjaya describes a combatant assuming the aspect of a dark rain-cloud in the sky, complete with a rainbow, and then unleashing a fierce barrage of stones that envelops Aśvatthāmā (Droṇa’s son) on the battlefield.