Shloka 28
इन्द्राशनिसमां घोरां यमदण्डमिवोद्यताम्
indrāśanisamāṃ ghorāṃ yamadaṇḍamivodyatām
Sañjaya said: “(He beheld) a dreadful weapon, like Indra’s thunderbolt, raised aloft like Yama’s staff—an image of irresistible force and impending death on the battlefield.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral gravity of war by likening a raised weapon to divine instruments of destruction (Indra’s vajra) and death’s authority (Yama’s staff), reminding the listener that violence on the battlefield carries the shadow of inevitable mortality and karmic consequence.
Sañjaya, narrating events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describes a combatant’s weapon being lifted to strike, using powerful comparisons to convey its terrifying, death-dealing readiness and the heightened intensity of the battle.