Shloka 24
तां शस्त्रवृष्टिमतुलां वज्ञाशनिसमस्वनाम्,व्यधमत् सुमहातेजा महाभ्राणीव मारुत: । जैसे वायु बड़े-बड़े बादलोंको छिलन्न-भिन्न कर देती है, उसी प्रकार व्यथारहित इन्द्रियोंवाले महातेजस्वी द्रोणपुत्र अश्वत्थामाने कुपित हो दिव्यास्त्रोंद्वारा अभिमन्त्रित भयंकर बाणोंसे अपने ऊपर पड़ती हुई उस अत्यन्त दुः:सह, अनुपम एवं वज्रपातके समान शब्द करनेवाली अस्त्र-शस्त्रोंकी वर्षाको नष्ट कर दिया
tāṁ śastravṛṣṭim atulāṁ vajrāśani-samasvanām vyadhamat sumahātejā mahābhrāṇīva mārutaḥ |
Sañjaya said: The mighty, blazing Aśvatthāman—Drona’s son, his senses unshaken—shattered that incomparable rain of weapons, roaring like a thunderbolt, just as the wind tears great masses of cloud to pieces.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how extraordinary power—especially when fueled by anger and expressed through divine weaponry—can rapidly intensify destruction. It implicitly warns that mastery and steadiness of the senses are ethically significant, yet in war even such steadiness can be directed toward devastating ends.
Aśvatthāman, described as immensely radiant and unshaken in his faculties, counters and disperses an overwhelming, thunderous barrage of weapons falling upon him, likened to wind ripping apart huge cloud-banks.