Shloka 313
भीम॑ प्रच्छादयामासु: शरवर्ष: समन्तत: । “उनके मारे जानेपर मैं सारी पाण्डव-सेनाको मरी हुई ही मानता हूँ।” आपके पुत्रकी इस आज्ञाको शिरोधार्य करके समस्त राजाओंने चारों ओरसे बाण-वर्षा करके भीमसेनको ढक दिया
sañjaya uvāca | bhīmaṃ pracchādayāmāsuḥ śaravarṣaiḥ samantataḥ | “teṣāṃ māraṇe sati ahaṃ sarvāṃ pāṇḍava-senāṃ mṛtām eva manye” iti | tava putrasya etām ājñāṃ śirodhārya samastā rājānaḥ caturdiśaṃ śaravarṣaṃ kṛtvā bhīmasenaṃ pracchādayāmāsuḥ |
Sanjaya said: Then, from every side, they covered Bhima with a rain of arrows. “Once he is slain, I shall regard the entire Pandava host as already dead.” Accepting this command of your son as binding, all the kings, surrounding him on every quarter, poured down volleys of arrows and concealed Bhimasena beneath that missile-storm.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how a leader’s fixation on eliminating a single pivotal opponent can shape collective action: the allied kings treat the command as paramount (śirodhārya), showing the ethical tension between loyalty/obedience and the escalating violence of war.
Sanjaya reports that, acting on Duryodhana’s order and belief that Bhima’s death would decide the war, the allied kings surround Bhima and unleash a concentrated, all-sided rain of arrows, effectively hiding him beneath the barrage.