Shloka 95
विसृजास्त्रं परं पार्थ राधेयो ग्रसते शरान् । ततो ब्रह्मास्त्रमत्युग्रं सम्मन्द्रय समयोजयत्
visṛjāstraṃ paraṃ pārtha rādheyo grasate śarān | tato brahmāstram atyugraṃ sammandraya samayojayat
Sañjaya said: “Release your supreme weapon, O Pārtha! Rādheya is swallowing up the arrows.” Then, having invoked it with the proper incantation, he set in motion the exceedingly fierce Brahmāstra. The moment underscores how, in the frenzy of battle, skill and restraint are tested: when ordinary missiles are rendered futile, the combatants escalate toward weapons of catastrophic power, raising the ethical tension between victory and the limits of righteous warfare.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical pressure-point of warfare: when conventional means fail, warriors may escalate to devastating divine weapons. It implicitly raises the question of restraint (dharma) versus the drive to win, since the use of ultimate weapons can endanger far more than the immediate opponent.
Sañjaya describes a critical exchange where Karṇa (Rādheya) neutralizes or ‘swallows’ incoming arrows. In response, the combatant (contextually Arjuna/Pārtha) invokes and deploys the extremely fierce Brahmāstra, signaling a sharp escalation in the duel.