Shloka 26
अभिमन्योरावरणम्
Encirclement and counter-strikes of Abhimanyu
शरौघेणाप्रमेयेण त्वरमाणो जिघांसया । सभरनुर्बाणकेयूरो बाहू समुकुर्ट शिर:
śaraughenāprameyeṇa tvaramāṇo jighāṃsayā | sabharanur bāṇakeyūro bāhū samukuṭaśiraḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Driven by the desire to slay and hastening forward, he advanced amid an immeasurable shower of arrows—his bow strung and ready, his arms adorned with quivers like armlets, and his head crowned with a helmet—pressing on with the grim resolve of battle.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the warrior’s single-minded resolve in battle and the momentum of violence once the intent to kill (jighāṃsā) takes hold—an implicit ethical contrast in the epic between martial duty and the destructive consequences of wrath and vengeance.
Sañjaya describes a combatant rushing forward through a vast barrage of arrows, fully armed—bow ready, arms fitted with arrow-gear, and head protected by a helmet—signaling an imminent, lethal engagement.