Shloka 99
ततो ज्यां विनिधायान्यामभिमन्त्रय च पाण्डव: । शरैरवाकिरत् कर्ण दीप्यमानैरिवाहिभि:
tato jyāṁ vinidhāyānyām abhimantrya ca pāṇḍavaḥ | śarair avākirat karṇaṁ dīpyamānair ivāhibhiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Then the Pāṇḍava (Arjuna), fitting another bowstring and consecrating it with mantra, showered Karṇa with arrows—blazing like serpents—until he was wholly covered. The scene proclaims that sacred astras in war are wielded with discipline and under vow: power is not mere bodily force, but force guided by trained restraint and sanctioned invocation.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that martial power in the epic is ideally governed by discipline and sanctioned knowledge: Arjuna does not merely attack, he prepares his weapon properly and invokes mantra, suggesting responsibility and trained restraint even amid lethal conflict.
Sañjaya describes Arjuna re-stringing (or fitting an additional string) and empowering it with mantra, then unleashing a dense volley of blazing arrows that envelops Karṇa, intensifying the duel’s ferocity.