Shloka 23
सामानि सामगास्तस्य गायन्ति यमसादने । हविर्धान॑ तु तस्याहुः परेषां वाहिनीमुखम्,सेनाके मुहानेपर जो “काट डालो', फाड़ डालो' आदिका भयंकर शब्द सुना जाता है, वही सामगान है। सैनिकरूपी सामगायक शत्रुओंको यमलोकमें भेजनेके लिये मानो सामगान करते हैं। शत्रुओंकी सेनाका प्रमुख भाग उस वीर यजमानके लिये हविर्धान (हविष्य रखनेका पात्र) बताया गया है
sāmāni sāmagās tasya gāyanti yamasādane | havirdhānaṁ tu tasyāhuḥ pareṣāṁ vāhinīmukham ||
Ambarīṣa said: “In his case, the ‘Sāman’ chants are sung in Yama’s own abode—meaning that on the battlefield the terrifying cries of ‘Cut them down!’ and ‘Tear them apart!’ function like a grim liturgy. Those soldiers, as if they were Sāman-singers, seem to ‘sing’ only to dispatch enemies to the realm of Death. And the foremost division—the very ‘mouth’ of the opposing army—is described for that heroic patron as the havirdhāna, the vessel where the offering is placed.”
अम्बरीष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses Vedic-sacrificial imagery to interpret warfare: the battlefield’s violent commands become a dark ‘Sāman’ chant, and the enemy’s vanguard becomes the ‘havirdhāna’ (offering-vessel). Ethically, it highlights how kṣatriya action can be framed as a ritualized duty, while also underscoring the grim proximity of war to death.
Ambarīṣa describes a heroic warrior (implicitly the subject under discussion) through an extended metaphor: soldiers are likened to Sāmaveda chanters, the cries of battle to sacred song, and the enemy army’s leading formation to the container that receives an offering—suggesting that enemies are being ‘offered’ to Yama through combat.