Shloka 19
Arjuna’s Concentrated Archery and the Rout of the Kaurava Mahārathas
Gāṇḍīva-Nirghoṣa Episode
किंतु अर्जुनके द्वारा चलाये हुए उन रक्त पीनेवाले नाराचोंको अपने पास आनेसे पहले ही कृपाचार्यने तीखे बाण मारकर उनके सैकड़ों और हजारों टुकड़े कर डाले ।।
kintu arjunakena calitān raktapīnavalān nārācān svam upagamanāt pūrvam eva kṛpācāryas tīkṣṇaiḥ śaraiḥ śatadhā sahasradhā ca ciccheda | tataḥ pārthas tu saṅkruddhaś citrān mārgān pradarśayan diśaḥ saṃchādayan bāṇaiḥ pradīśaś ca mahārathaḥ | ekacchāyam ivākāśam akarot sarvataḥ prabhuḥ ||
But the blood-drinking nārāca arrows released by Arjuna were intercepted before they could reach him: Ācārya Kṛpa, with keen shafts, shattered them into hundreds and thousands of fragments. Then Pārtha (Arjuna), inflamed with anger, displayed wondrous trajectories of archery; the great chariot-warrior covered the directions and intermediate quarters with a rain of arrows, so that the sky on every side seemed to sink into a single, uniform darkness.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores that prowess in battle is not mere aggression but disciplined mastery: Kṛpa’s precise counter and Arjuna’s controlled display of complex trajectories show how skill, alertness, and tactical restraint operate within kṣatriya-dharma, even when anger arises.
Arjuna fires fierce nārāca missiles; Kṛpācārya intercepts and splinters them before they reach him. Arjuna then intensifies the fight, demonstrating intricate archery and releasing such a dense volley that the directions are veiled and the sky appears uniformly dark.