Shloka 18
शृज़मग्निर्बभूवास्य भलल: सोमो विशाम्पते,वृषभस्यास्य निनदं श्रुत्वा भयकरं महत् | विनाशमगमंस्तत्र तारका: सुरशत्रव:
śṛṅgam agnir babhūvāsya bhallaḥ somo viśāmpate | vṛṣabhasyāsya ninadaṃ śrutvā bhayakaraṃ mahat | vināśam agamans tatra tārakāḥ suraśatravaḥ ||
Duryodhana said: “O lord of the people, the arrowhead blazed like fire at its tip, and shone with the sheen of the moon. Hearing the mighty, fearsome bellow of this bull-like hero, the stars there—enemies of the gods—seemed to rush toward destruction.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war magnifies perception: weapons and sounds are described with cosmic metaphors (fire, moon, stars) to convey moral and psychological intensity—fear, awe, and the sense that adharma-driven conflict disturbs even the imagined order of the cosmos.
Duryodhana describes a terrifying battlefield moment: a barbed arrow gleams like fire and moonlight, and the thunderous roar of a ‘bull-like’ warrior is so dreadful that it is poetically said to drive the star-like enemies of the gods toward destruction—an omen-like image of impending ruin.