Shloka 34
कर्णपर्व — पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः | Karṇa Parva, Chapter 15: Pāṇḍya’s Advance and Aśvatthāmā’s Counterstroke
इषुधेर्धनुषश्वैव ज्यायाश्वैवाथ मारिष । बाह्दो: कराभ्यामुरसो वदनप्राणनेत्रत:
iṣudher dhanuṣaś caiva jyāyāś caivātha māriṣa | bāhvor karābhyām uraso vadana-prāṇa-netrataḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “O venerable one, then arrows seemed to issue forth from every quarter— from the quiver and the bow, from the bowstring as well; and even from the arms, the hands, the chest, the face, the breath, and the eyes.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions less as a moral injunction and more as a warning-through-imagery: when warfare escalates beyond restraint, violence appears limitless, as if weapons arise from everywhere. It implicitly contrasts disciplined, dharmic combat with uncontrolled, destructive excess.
Sañjaya describes an overwhelming moment in battle where arrows seem to pour forth not only from weapons like the quiver, bow, and bowstring, but metaphorically from the warrior’s very limbs and senses—arms, hands, chest, face, breath, and eyes—conveying extraordinary intensity and fear.