Shloka 28
कर्णार्जुनयुद्ध-प्रवृत्तिः
Renewal of the Karṇa–Arjuna Engagement at Day’s End
ते पाण्डुयोधाम्बुधरै: शत्रुद्विरदपर्वता: । बाणवर्ष्िता: पेतुर्वज़वर्षरिवाचला:
te pāṇḍu-yodhāmbudharaiḥ śatru-dvirada-parvatāḥ | bāṇa-varṣitāḥ petur vajra-varṣa-rivācalāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Struck by showers of arrows released by the Pāṇḍava warriors—like rainclouds pouring down—the enemy’s elephant-like champions, towering as mountains, fell, as if mountains themselves were brought down by a rain of thunderbolts. The verse frames the battle’s violence through cosmic imagery, underscoring how martial prowess, when unleashed, can topple even the mightiest, and how war reduces proud strength to sudden ruin.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Through the simile of thunderbolts felling mountains, the verse highlights the fragility of worldly might: even those who seem unshakable can be brought down when destructive forces are unleashed. It implicitly cautions that war magnifies power into catastrophe, turning pride and strength into sudden downfall.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield where Pāṇḍava fighters, compared to rainclouds, pour down volleys of arrows. The enemy’s great champions—likened to elephant-mountains—are struck by this arrow-rain and collapse, as though mountains were shattered by a storm of Indra’s thunderbolts.