Shloka 403
Śiva’s Battlefield Manifestation and Vyāsa’s Śatarudrīya Exposition (शिवप्रादुर्भावः शतरुद्रीयव्याख्यानम्)
विद्रावयंस्तव चमूं शतशो व्यधमच्छरै: । महाराज! परंतु पाण्डुनन्दन अर्जुनने उन दोनोंको तीखे बाणोंसे घायल करके आपकी सेनाको भगाते हुए उसे सैकड़ों बाणोंसे छिन्न-भिन्न कर दिया
vidrāvayaṃs tava camūṃ śataśo vyadhamac charaiḥ | mahārāja! parantu pāṇḍunandana arjunane una donoṃko tīkhe bāṇoṃse ghāyal karke āpkī senāko bhagāte hue use saikṛoṃ bāṇoṃse chinna-bhinna kar diyā |
Sañjaya said: O King, as he routed your army, Arjuna—the son of Pāṇḍu—wounded those two with sharp arrows and, driving your forces into flight, tore the host apart with hundreds of shafts. The scene lays bare war’s grim ethic: disciplined skill displays prowess, yet it unfolds amid violence’s tragic necessity and the collapse of armies before superior strategy.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension within kṣatriya-dharma: disciplined martial excellence is praised, yet its exercise entails real harm. It invites reflection on responsibility in war—skill and duty operating within a tragic moral landscape.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Arjuna wounds two opponents (referred to as “those two”) with sharp arrows and, while driving the Kaurava forces into retreat, shatters the army with volleys of hundreds of arrows.