Shloka 54
तस्मादन्यद् योजय सव्यसाचि- ज्लिति स्मोक्तोड्योजयत् सव्यसाची । ततो दिश: प्रदिशश्चापि सर्वा: समावृणोत् सायकैर्भूरितेजा:
tasmād anyad yojaya savyasāci-jliti smoktoḍyojayat savyasācī | tato diśaḥ pradiśaś cāpi sarvāḥ samāvṛṇot sāyakair bhūritejāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Therefore, O Savyasācin, yoke another (weapon/means)!” Thus urged, Savyasācin set another in action. Then that mighty, blazing warrior covered all the directions and intermediate quarters with a dense shower of arrows—an escalation of force meant to meet force in the grim ethics of battlefield necessity.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Within the Mahābhārata’s war-ethic, the verse highlights kṣatriya-dharma: when confronted with grave danger, a warrior may intensify his means to protect his side and restore tactical balance. The moral tension is not celebration of violence, but the duty-bound response under battlefield necessity.
Sañjaya narrates that Arjuna (Savyasācin), prompted to employ another measure/weapon, deploys it and unleashes such a torrent of arrows that all directions and intermediate quarters appear covered—signaling a decisive surge in his offensive.