Shloka 8
(ततस्तु तौ वै पुरुषप्रवीरी राजन् वरौ सर्वधनुर्धराणाम् । त्यक्त्वा55त्मदेहौ समरे5तिघोरे प्राप्तश्रमौ शत्रुदुरासदौ हि ।।
sañjaya uvāca |
tatastu tau vai puruṣapravīrau rājan varau sarvadhanurdharāṇām |
tyaktvātmadehau samare'tighore prāptaśramau śatrudurāsadau hi ||
dṛṣṭvā tu tau saṃyati samprayuktau parasparaṃ chidraniviṣṭadṛṣṭī |
devarṣigandharvagaṇāḥ sayakṣāḥ santuṣṭuvus te pitaras ca hṛṣṭāḥ ||
tau sandadhānāv aniśaṃ ca rājan samasyantau cāpi śarān anekān |
sandarśayetāṃ yudhi mārgān vicitrān dhanurdharī tau vividhaiḥ kṛtāstraiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Then, O King, those two foremost of men—best among all bowmen—casting off attachment to their own bodies in that exceedingly dreadful battle, laboured with immense exertion. Indeed, both were hard for enemies to assail. Seeing them locked together in combat, each fixing his gaze on the other’s openings (weak points), the hosts of gods, seers, and Gandharvas, along with Yakṣas, praised them with delight; and the Pitṛs too rejoiced. And, O King, continually fitting arrows to the bow and discharging them in countless volleys, those two archers, skilled in many perfected weapons, displayed in battle wondrous manoeuvres and varied tactical paths.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a warrior-ethic: steadfast focus, mastery of skill, and a kind of disciplined detachment—‘abandoning attachment to the body’—in the performance of one’s duty. It also frames heroic effort as something witnessed and evaluated by a wider moral-cosmic audience (gods, seers, ancestors), implying that conduct in war is not merely physical but ethically significant.
Sañjaya describes two supreme archers engaged in a fierce duel. They relentlessly fit and release volleys of arrows, each watching for the other’s vulnerabilities, while celestial beings and the ancestors look on with joy and praise at their extraordinary martial display and tactical manoeuvres.