Shloka 19
कुरुक्षेत्रे सेनानिवेशवृत्तान्तः — Dhṛtarāṣṭra Questions Saṃjaya on the Deployed Armies
अभिगुप्तो महाबाहुर्मरुद्धिरिव वासव: । नीलकौशेयवसन: कैलासशिखरोपम:
abhigupto mahābāhur marudbhir iva vāsavaḥ | nīlakauśeyavasanaḥ kailāsaśikharopamaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: The mighty-armed hero, well-guarded and attended—like Vāsava (Indra) surrounded by the Maruts—was clad in dark-blue silk, and in his splendor resembled a peak of Mount Kailāsa. The verse heightens the ethical-narrative mood by portraying righteous power as disciplined, protected, and radiant rather than reckless.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power is presented as legitimate and admirable when it is disciplined and well-ordered—protected by allies and expressed with dignity—rather than as solitary aggression. The Indra-with-Maruts simile suggests that rightful leadership is supported by a harmonious retinue and proper conduct.
The narrator describes a prominent warrior/hero in heightened poetic terms: he is securely guarded, accompanied like Indra among the Maruts, dressed in dark-blue silk, and shining like a summit of Kailāsa—an image that signals majesty and the gravity of the impending political-military events in the Udyoga Parva.