Shloka 110
महाराज! बाण छोड़ते समय अभश्वत्थामाका धनुष अलातचक्रके समान मण्डलाकार दिखायी देता था ।। धनुश्च्युता: शरासतस्य शतशो5थ सहसख्रश: । आकाशे प्रत्यदृश्यन्त शलभानामिवायती:,उसके धनुषसे छूटे हुए सैकड़ों और हजारों बाण आकाशमें टिड्डी-दलोंके समान दिखायी देते थे
sañjaya uvāca | mahārāja! bāṇaṃ choḍate samayam aśvatthāmakaḥ dhanuḥ alātacakravat maṇḍalākāraḥ dṛśyate sma || dhanuścyutāḥ śarās tasya śataśo 'tha sahasraśaḥ | ākāśe pratyadṛśyanta śalabhānām ivāyatīḥ ||
Sanjaya said: O King, as Aśvatthāman released his arrows, his bow appeared like a blazing firebrand whirled in a circle. From that bow, hundreds—indeed thousands—of arrows shot forth, and in the sky they were seen like swarming flights of locusts. The passage heightens the moral tension of the war: martial brilliance and terrifying efficiency are displayed as instruments of destruction, reminding the listener that prowess, when yoked to wrath, multiplies suffering on the battlefield.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how extraordinary skill in war can become terrifying when driven by anger and vengeance; it implicitly contrasts heroic prowess with the ethical cost of mass destruction, a recurring Mahābhārata concern about dharma amid warfare.
Sanjaya describes to Dhṛtarāṣṭra Aśvatthāman’s rapid archery: his bow seems to form a fiery circle from speed, and his arrows fill the sky in dense streams like a locust swarm, signaling an intense and deadly phase of battle.