Shloka 12
Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 55 — Sañjaya’s Report on Pāṇḍava Readiness and Arjuna’s Dhvaja
जैसे आकाशमें बहुरंगा इन्द्रधनुष प्रकाशित होता है और यह समझमें नहीं आता कि वह क्या है? ठीक ऐसा ही विश्वकर्माका बनाया हुआ वह रंग-बिरंगा ध्वज है। उसका रूप अनेक प्रकारका दिखायी देता है ।।
yathā ākāśe bahuraṅga indradhanuḥ prakāśitaṃ bhavati na ca budhyate kim idaṃ iti, tathā viśvakarmaṇā kṛto 'sau citraraṅgo dhvajaḥ; tasya rūpaṃ nānāvidhaṃ dṛśyate. yathāgni-dhūmo divam eti ruddhvā varṇān bibhṛt taijasāṃśrita-rūpān, tathā dhvajo vihito bhaumanena; na ced bhāro bhavitā na uta rodhaḥ.
Sañjaya said: Just as a many-hued rainbow shines in the sky and one cannot easily grasp what it truly is, so too is that variegated banner fashioned by Viśvakarman—its appearance seems to change into many forms. And as smoke, joined with fire, spreads in all directions, taking on brilliant shapes and colors and rising upward into the heavens, so has that banner been contrived by the divine craftsman. Yet it adds no weight to the chariot, nor does it hinder its movement in any way—wondrous power without burden, and splendor without obstruction.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Splendor and power, when rightly fashioned, need not become a burden: the banner is wondrous and radiant yet adds no weight and causes no obstruction—an ethical image of excellence that supports action without impeding it.
Sañjaya describes a marvelous multicolored banner associated with the war preparations, comparing it to a rainbow and to fire-laden smoke rising to the sky, and emphasizing that it is divinely crafted by Viśvakarman and does not hinder the chariot.