Shloka 276

Devanagari script

गदां चिक्षेप वेगेन वज्रपातोपमां तदा । भयंकर पराक्रमी भीमसेनने राक्षसराज अलायुधको ऐसा पराक्रम करते देख उस समय उसके ऊपर वज्रपातके समान अपनी भयंकर गदा बड़े वेगसे चलायी

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | gadāṃ cikṣepa vegena vajrapātopamāṃ tadā | bhayaṅkara-parākramaṃ bhīmasenena rākṣasarāja alāyudhakaḥ |

Translation

Sañjaya said: Then Alayudha, the king of the Rakshasas, seeing Bhimasena’s terrifying prowess, hurled his dreadful mace with great speed—like a thunderbolt’s strike—aiming to bring down the mighty warrior in the fury of battle. The moment underscores how, in war, valor provokes counter-valor, and force answers force, even as the ethical cost of violence continues to mount.

Word by Word

गदाम्mace

चिक्षेपthrew

वेगेनwith speed

वज्रपातोपमाम्like a thunderbolt-strike

तदाthen

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

Bhimasena (Bhima)

Alayudha

Gada (mace)

Vajrapata (thunderbolt-like strike)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the escalation inherent in warfare: formidable strength invites an equally forceful response. It implicitly points to the moral gravity of battle—where courage and duty operate amid destructive consequences.

What is happening in the narrative?

During the Drona Parva battle, Alayudha, the Rakshasa king, witnesses Bhima’s fearsome prowess and responds by hurling a terrible mace at him with thunderbolt-like speed and force.