Shloka 97
द्वियोजनसमुत्सेधां योजनायामविस्तराम् । आयसी निचितां शूलै: कदम्बमिव केसरै:,उस राक्षसने कुपित होकर पुनः सूतपुत्र कर्णपर आठ चक्रोंसे युक्त एक अत्यन्त भयंकर रुद्रनिर्मित अशनि चलायी, जिसकी ऊँचाई दो योजन और लंबाई-चौड़ाई एक-एक योजनकी थी। लोहेकी बनी हुई उस शक्तिमें शूल चुने गये थे। इससे वह केसरोंसे युक्त कदम्ब-पुष्पके समान जान पड़ती थी
dvi-yojana-samutsedhāṃ yojanāyāma-vistarām | āyasīṃ nicitāṃ śūlaiḥ kadambam iva kesaraiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “It was two yojanas in height, and a yojana in length and breadth—an iron missile densely set with spikes, appearing like a kadamba blossom crowned with filaments. In wrath, that rākṣasa again hurled this exceedingly dreadful, Rudra-fashioned thunderbolt-like weapon at Karṇa, the son of a sūta.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates how anger (krodha) intensifies cruelty in war: the enraged fighter escalates to a massive, fearsome weapon, suggesting that wrath can eclipse restraint and threaten dharmic conduct even amid sanctioned combat.
Sañjaya describes an enraged rākṣasa hurling a gigantic, iron, spike-studded, Rudra-empowered thunderbolt-like weapon at Karṇa; its appearance is compared to a kadamba flower with prominent filaments.