Shloka 15
Pāṇḍya-vadha-anantaram Arjunasya Pravṛttiḥ
Arjuna’s Response and the Renewed Battle
ततोथ्र्जुनेषूनिषुभिर्निरस्य द्रौणि: शितैरजुनवासुदेवौ । प्रच्छादयित्वा दिवि चन्द्रसूर्यो ननाद सो>म्भोद इवातपान्ते
tato ’rjunēṣūn iṣubhir nirasyāśvatthāmā śitair arjunavāsudevau | pracchādayitvā divi candrasūryau nanāda so ’mbhoda ivātapānte ||
Sañjaya said: Then Aśvatthāmā, repelling Arjuna’s arrows with his own sharp shafts, covered both Arjuna and Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa) with a dense shower of missiles. Veiling the moon and the sun in the sky, he roared with a deep, thunderous cry—like a rain-cloud rumbling at the end of the hot season.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how overwhelming force and anger in war can ‘cover’ clarity and auspiciousness, symbolized by the obscuring of the sun and moon; it implicitly contrasts raw martial intensity with the need for disciplined, dharma-guided action.
Aśvatthāmā counters Arjuna’s missiles, then showers arrows so densely that Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa seem concealed; the sky itself appears darkened as if the sun and moon are covered, and Aśvatthāmā roars like a monsoon cloud.