Shloka 403
शकुनिवधः — Sahadeva’s Slaying of Śakuni
with Ulūka’s fall
यथा सिंहो वने राजन् मृगं परिबुभुक्षित: । राजन! जैसे वनमें भूखा सिंह किसी मृगको दबोच लेता है, उसी प्रकार अर्जुनने समस्त योद्धाओंके देखते-देखते सत्येषुके भी प्राण हर लिये
sañjaya uvāca | yathā siṁho vane rājan mṛgaṁ paribubhukṣitaḥ | tathā arjunaḥ samastayoddhṛṇāṁ paśyatāṁ paśyatāṁ satyeṣuḥ api prāṇān jahāra ||
Sañjaya said: “O King, just as a lion in the forest, driven by hunger, seizes a deer, so did Arjuna—before the very eyes of all the warriors—take away the life of Satyeṣu as well.” The simile underscores the ruthless inevitability of battlefield death, where prowess and necessity override personal regard, and the king is made to confront the stark moral cost of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the harsh inevitability of war: a warrior’s lethal action can be as swift and natural as a predator’s strike. It presses the listener (the king) to recognize the ethical weight and human cost that accompany martial duty and victory.
Sañjaya reports to the king that Arjuna killed the warrior Satyeṣu in full view of the assembled fighters, comparing Arjuna’s act to a hungry lion seizing its prey in the forest.