Shloka 343
कर्णवधार्थं धनञ्जयस्य प्रतिज्ञा — Arjuna’s resolve for Karṇa’s defeat
न्यवधीच्च ततो योधान् वासवि: परवीरहा । तदनन्तर शत्रुवीरोंका संहार करनेवाले इन्द्रपुत्र अर्जुनने अपने बाणोंकी वर्षसे उनकी भारी अस्त्र-वृष्टिका निवारण करके उन योद्धाओंका संहार आरम्भ कर दिया
nyavadhīc ca tato yodhān vāsaviḥ paravīrahā | tadanantaraṁ śatruvīrāṇāṁ saṁhāra-karaṇevale indraputra arjunena svabāṇa-vṛṣṭyā teṣāṁ gurvīṁ astravṛṣṭikāṁ nivārya tān yodhānāṁ saṁhāra ārabdhaḥ |
Sañjaya said: “Then Arjuna—Indra’s son and slayer of enemy champions—struck down the warriors. Thereafter, he checked their fierce shower of missiles with a counter-rain of arrows, and began the slaughter of those fighters.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the kṣatriya ideal of steadfastness and tactical mastery in battle—meeting force with disciplined counter-force—while the epic context frames such victory as morally heavy, reminding readers that even ‘necessary’ violence in a dharmic war carries grave human cost.
Sañjaya narrates that Arjuna, described with Indra-related epithets, wards off the enemy’s intense missile-shower by a rain of his own arrows and then begins cutting down the opposing warriors.