Shloka 316
कण्वोपदेशः—नश्वरबलविवेकः तथा मातलिगुणकेश्याः आख्यानारम्भः
Kaṇva’s Counsel on Impermanent Power; Opening of the Mātali–Guṇakeśī Narrative
निमित्तवेधी स मुनिरिषीकाभि: समार्पयत् | इस प्रकार लक्ष्यवेध करनेवाले नर मुनिने मायाद्वारा सींकके बाणोंसे ही दम्भोद्धवके सैनिकोंकी आँखों, कानों और नासिकाओंको बींध डाला
nimittavedhī sa munir ṛṣīkābhiḥ samārpayat |
Rama said: “That sage, famed as an unerring marksman, fitted his arrows and, by the power of illusion, pierced the eyes, ears, and noses of the soldiers of Dambhodbhava with nothing more than reed-arrows.”
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights disciplined mastery and the ethical tension in warfare: superior power can be used to incapacitate rather than annihilate, suggesting restraint and proportional response even amid hostility.
Rama narrates how a sage renowned for perfect aim readied reed-arrows and, through māyā, struck the enemy soldiers’ sensory organs (eyes, ears, noses), disabling them with precise, non-lethal targeting rather than mass killing.