Shloka 243
द्विधा चिच्छेद समरे कृतहस्त: प्रतापवान् | सिद्धहस्त एवं प्रतापी वीर शल्यने अपने भल्लोंद्वारा सात्यकिके चलाये हुए तोमरके टुकड़े-टुकड़े कर डाले और भीमसेनके छोड़े हुए सुवर्णभूषित बाणके दो खण्ड कर डाले
sañjaya uvāca |
dvidhā ciccheda samare kṛtahastaḥ pratāpavān | siddhahasta evaṁ pratāpī vīraḥ śalyaḥ svaballaiḥ sātyakicodita-tomarasyāpi khaṇḍaśaḥ cakāra, bhīmasenamuktaṁ suvarṇabhūṣitaṁ bāṇam api dvau khaṇḍau cakāra |
Sanjaya said: In the thick of battle, the mighty and unfailingly skilled hero Shalya cut it in two. With well-aimed shafts he shattered into fragments the javelin hurled by Satyaki, and he also split in two the gold-adorned arrow released by Bhimasena.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ideal of kṣatriya martial competence—precision, steadiness, and courage—while implicitly intensifying the epic’s ethical tension: extraordinary skill in war can be admirable as duty, yet it also magnifies destruction and suffering.
Sanjaya reports that Shalya, fighting with great accuracy, breaks apart the javelin thrown by Satyaki and then splits into two the gold-decorated arrow shot by Bhimasena, demonstrating Shalya’s dominance in that exchange of missiles.