Shloka 20
Book 3, Āraṇyaka-parva — Adhyāya 19: Pradyumna’s Reproach of Withdrawal and the Ethics of Kṣātra Reputation
तमर्चितं सर्वदशार्हपूगै- राशीविषाग्निज्वलनप्रकाशम् । दृष्टवा शरं ज्यामभिनीयमानं बभूव हाहाकृतमन्तरिक्षम्,वह बाण समस्त यादवसमुदायके द्वारा सम्मानित, विषैले सर्पके समान विषाक्त तथा प्रज्वलित अग्निके समान प्रकाशमान था। उस बाणको प्रत्यंचापर रखा जाता हुआ देख अन्तरिक्षलोकमें हाहाकार मच गया
tam arcitaṁ sarvadaśārhapūgair āśīviṣāgnijvalanaprakāśam | dṛṣṭvā śaraṁ jyām abhinīyamānaṁ babhūva hāhākṛtam antarīkṣam ||
Vāyu said: “That arrow—honoured by the assembled Daśārhas, the Yādava clans—shone like a blazing fire and was as deadly as a venomous serpent. When the heavens beheld it being set upon the bowstring, a cry of alarm arose throughout the sky.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights ethical gravity around the use of overwhelming force: when a weapon is prepared that can cause vast harm, even the cosmos ‘reacts’ with alarm. It implies that power, though honoured by one’s own side, must be handled with restraint and awareness of its consequences.
Vāyu describes a formidable arrow, revered by the Daśārha/Yādava assembly, glowing like fire and deadly like a venomous serpent. As it is fitted onto the bowstring, the sky itself erupts in cries—an omen-like sign of the weapon’s terrifying potency.