Shloka 286
आयुधक्षयमासाद्य प्रशान्तिं परमां गत: । महाराज! जैसे पूर्णिमाके दिन समुद्र उमड़ पड़ता है, उसी प्रकार वृद्धक्षेमका पुत्र भी युद्धमें उद्धत हो उठा था, परंतु उसके सारे अस्त्र-शस्त्र नष्ट हो गये थे, इसलिये वह प्राणशून्य हो सदाके लिये परम शान्त हो गया
āyudhakṣayam āsādya praśāntiṃ paramāṃ gataḥ | mahārāja! yathā pūrṇimāyāṃ dine samudra udmapatati, tathā vṛddhakṣemasya putro 'pi yuddhe uddhato 'bhavat; kintu tasya sarve 'strāṇi śastrāṇi ca naṣṭāni, tasmāt sa prāṇaśūnyaḥ san sadā-kṛte paramāṃ śāntim agamat |
Sañjaya said: “O great king, when he had reached the exhaustion of his weapons, he passed into the highest stillness. Just as the ocean swells on the day of the full moon, so too did the son of Vṛddhakṣema surge up in battle with fierce ardor; but when all his missiles and weapons were destroyed, he became bereft of life and entered lasting, supreme peace.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the impermanence of martial power: even a warrior who surges with confidence like the ocean at full moon is brought to an end when his means of violence are exhausted. The phrase “supreme peace” functions as a sober reminder that death is the final cessation of conflict, inviting reflection on restraint, limits, and the cost of war.
Sanjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the son of Vṛddhakṣema fought with great ferocity, but once his weapons—both missiles (astra) and hand-weapons (śastra)—were destroyed, he was slain. The narration uses a full-moon ocean-swell simile to convey the warrior’s sudden surge of battle-fury before his fall.