Shloka 19
Adhyāya 168: Arjuna’s counters to māyā-rains and the onset of darkness
Nivātakavaca engagement
निघ्नन् प्रोथेन पृथिवीं विलिखंश्ररणैरपि । सम्मार्जञ्जठरेणोर्वी विवर्तश्न मुहुर्मुहु:
nighnan prothena pṛthivīṁ vilikhañ śṛṅgair api | sammārjan jaṭhareṇorvīṁ vivartaś ca muhur muhuḥ ||
Arjuna said: “Striking the earth with his snout and even scraping it with his horns, he would dig up the ground with his feet. Again and again he would lie down and, with his belly, rub the soil so clean that it looked as though the place had been swept.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse primarily serves a descriptive purpose: it highlights intense restlessness and physical agitation through vivid natural imagery. Ethically, it can be read as illustrating how inner disturbance manifests outwardly in repeated, compulsive action.
Arjuna describes a creature’s behavior: it strikes the ground with its snout, scrapes with its horns, digs with its feet, and repeatedly rolls and rubs its belly on the earth, leaving the spot looking swept clean.