Shloka 8
यथान्तकाले क्षपयन् दिधक्षु- भूतान्तकृत् काल इवात्तदण्ड: | आपकी सेनाके आक्रमण करनेपर अनन्त वेगशाली भीमसेनने अपना महान् वेग प्रकट किया। ठीक उसी तरह, जैसे प्रलयकालमें समस्त प्राणियोंका संहार करनेवाला काल हाथमें दण्ड लिये सबको नष्ट और दग्ध करनेकी इच्छासे असीम वेग प्रकट करता है ।। तस्यातिवेगस्य रणे5तिवेगं नाशवनुवन् वारयितुं त्वदीया:
yathāntakāle kṣapayan didhakṣu-bhūtāntakṛt kāla ivāttadaṇḍaḥ | āpākī senāke ākramaṇa karanepara ananta-vegāśālī bhīmasenane apnā mahān vega prakaṭ kiyā | ṭhīk usī tarah, jaise pralayakāla meṃ samasta prāṇiyoṃ kā saṃhāra karanevālā kāla hātha meṃ daṇḍa liye sabko naṣṭa aura dagdha karanekī icchā se asīma vega prakaṭ kartā hai || tasya ativēgasya raṇe 'tivēgaṃ nāśavanuvan vārayituṃ tvadīyāḥ |
Sañjaya said: When your army surged forward, Bhīmasena revealed a tremendous, boundless speed. He was like Time itself at the end of the age—death-dealing, staff in hand—rushing with the will to destroy and burn all beings. Yet in that battle your warriors, unable to match or check his overwhelming momentum, could not restrain him.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the epic idea that in war, human prowess can appear as an instrument of Kāla (Time/Death): overwhelming force, once unleashed, becomes difficult to restrain. It evokes the ethical gravity of battle—destruction is not merely personal but participates in a larger, inexorable cosmic order.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that when the Kaurava army attacked, Bhīma responded with immense speed and power, likened to Time at the world’s end holding a staff to annihilate beings. The Kaurava warriors could not match or stop his onslaught in the fight.