Shloka 31
Śiva’s Battlefield Manifestation and Vyāsa’s Śatarudrīya Exposition (शिवप्रादुर्भावः शतरुद्रीयव्याख्यानम्)
निवार्य तान् बाणगणैर्युधि राजन् धनंजय: । जघान तावकान् योधान् वज्रपाणिरिवासुरान्,राजन! युद्धस्थलमें अर्जुनने अपने बाण-समूहोंद्वारा आपके उन योद्धाओंको रोककर जैसे वज्रपाणि इन्द्र असुरोंका संहार करते हैं, उसी प्रकार उन सबका वध कर डाला
nivārya tān bāṇagaṇair yudhi rājan dhanañjayaḥ | jaghāna tāvakān yodhān vajrapāṇir ivāsurān ||
Sañjaya said: O King, in the thick of battle Dhanañjaya (Arjuna), checking those warriors with volleys of arrows, struck down your fighters—just as Vajrapāṇi Indra destroys the Asuras.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the epic’s war-ethic: a kṣatriya’s duty is executed with resolute force amid tragic conflict. Arjuna’s action is presented not as personal cruelty but as battlefield necessity, conveyed through a divine simile (Indra vs. Asuras) that frames martial power within a cosmic order.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Arjuna, using dense volleys of arrows, halts the advance of the Kaurava warriors and then kills many of them, likening his onslaught to Indra’s thunderbolt-driven destruction of the Asuras.