Shloka 22
भीमस्य बल्लव-प्रतिज्ञा तथा अर्जुनस्य बृहन्नडा-रूप-निर्णयः
Bhīma’s Ballava Vow and Arjuna’s Decision to Become Bṛhannadā
यस्य बाहू समौ दीर्घौ ज्याघातकठिनत्वचौ । दक्षिणे चैव सव्ये च गवामिव वह: कृत:,जिसकी दोनों भुजाएँ एक-सी विशाल हैं; प्रत्यंचाके आधातसे उनकी त्वचा कठोर हो गयी है। जैसे बैलोंके कंधोंपर जुआठेकी रगड़से चिह्न बन जाता है, उसी प्रकार जिसकी दाहिनी और बायीं भुजाओंपर प्रत्यंचाकी रगड़से चिह्न बन गये हैं
yasya bāhū samau dīrghau jyāghāta-kaṭhina-tvacau | dakṣiṇe caiva savye ca gavām iva vahaḥ kṛtaḥ ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “He whose two arms are equally long and mighty, whose skin has grown hard from the repeated удар of the bowstring—on whose right and left arms there are marks, like the yoke-marks that form on the shoulders of oxen—such a one bears the unmistakable signs of a practiced archer.”
युधिछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
True capability leaves discernible signs: disciplined practice and lived duty (especially kṣatriya training) manifest physically and cannot be fully concealed by outward disguise.
In the Virāṭa episode, Yudhiṣṭhira is identifying (or describing how to identify) a seasoned warrior/archer by bodily marks—hardened skin and bowstring abrasions on both arms—comparing them to yoke-marks on oxen.