Shloka 11
Bhīṣma’s Admonition; Duryodhana’s Rājasūya Aspiration and the Proposal of a Vaiṣṇava-satra
स ताउछरैविनिर्भिद्य गजांश्व सुबहून् वने । रमणीयेषु देशेषु ग्राहयामास वै मृगान्,उन्होंने वनके रमणीय प्रदेशोंमें बहुत-से हाथियोंको अपने बाणोंसे विदीर्ण करके अनेकानेक हिंस्र पशुओंको पकड़ लिया
sa tān ucchair vinirbhidya gajān aśvān subahūn vane | ramaṇīyeṣu deśeṣu grāhayāmāsa vai mṛgān |
Vaiśampāyana said: Having pierced them from above with his arrows, he struck down many elephants and horses in the forest; and in those delightful woodland tracts he caused wild animals to be seized—an episode that underscores the tension between royal prowess and the ethical weight of violence exercised in the name of control and display.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how martial skill and royal authority can extend into the forest through hunting and capture, inviting reflection on dharma: power may achieve control, but ethical restraint and the purpose behind violence remain crucial concerns in the epic’s moral landscape.
The narrator describes a figure who, in forest regions, pierces many elephants and horses with arrows and has wild animals captured—depicting an intense scene of hunting/forcible seizure within pleasant woodland settings.