Shloka 3
तब अर्जुनने समरभूमिमें तीन बाणोंसे अश्वत्थामाको और दो-दो बाणोंसे अन्य महाधनुर्धरोंको बींध डाला ।। भूयश्वचैव महाराज शरवर्षैरवाकिरत् | शरकण्टकितास्ते तु तावका भरतर्षभ
bhūyaś caiva mahārāja śaravarṣair avākirat | śara-kaṇṭakitās te tu tāvakā bharatarṣabha ||
Sañjaya said: “And again, O great king, he showered them with torrents of arrows. Your warriors, O bull among the Bharatas, were bristling with shafts—pierced and shaken—showing how, in the frenzy of battle, prowess and resolve drive men to relentless violence, even as the moral weight of such destruction continues to gather.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the relentless momentum of war: martial excellence can become a force of unchecked escalation. It implicitly invites reflection on kṣatriya duty versus the accumulating ethical cost of widespread harm.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the opposing warrior again unleashes a dense volley of arrows, leaving the Kaurava fighters ‘bristling’ with shafts—an image of their being overwhelmed on the battlefield.