Shloka 23
यथा यथा हायुध्यन्त पाण्डवानां महारथा: । तथा तथा तदस्त्र॑ वै व्यवर्धत जनाधिप,यथा हि शिशिरापाये दहेत् कक्ष हुताशन: । तथा तदस्त्रं पाण्डूनां ददाह ध्वजिनीं प्रभो प्रभो! जैसे सर्दी बीतनेपर गर्मीमें लगी हुई आग सूखे काठ या जंगलको जला डाले, उसी प्रकार वह अस्त्र पाण्डव-सेनाको भस्म करने लगा
sañjaya uvāca |
yathā yathā hy āyudhyanta pāṇḍavānāṃ mahārathāḥ |
tathā tathā tad astraṃ vai vyavardhata janādhipa |
yathā hi śiśirāpāye dahet kakṣa hutāśanaḥ |
tathā tad astraṃ pāṇḍūnāṃ dadāha dhvajinīṃ prabho ||
Sañjaya said: “O king, as the great chariot-warriors of the Pāṇḍavas fought on and on, that weapon kept increasing in force. Just as, when winter has passed, a fire kindled in the heat burns up dry brushwood and thickets, so that weapon, O lord, began to consume the Pāṇḍava host.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how violence in war can become self-amplifying: as elite warriors intensify combat, the instruments of destruction (astra-power) also intensify, leading to indiscriminate devastation—an implicit ethical warning about escalation and the catastrophic momentum of battle.
Sañjaya reports to the king that as the Pāṇḍava great chariot-warriors continue fighting, a particular astra grows stronger and begins to burn through the Pāṇḍava forces, compared to fire consuming dry scrub when winter has ended.