Shloka 113
ददृशुर्देवगन्धर्वा: पिशाचोरगराक्षसा: । स तस्य कवचं भित्त्वा हृदयं चामितौजस:
dadṛśur devagandharvāḥ piśācoragarākṣasāḥ | sa tasya kavacaṃ bhittvā hṛdayaṃ cāmitaujasāḥ ||
Dijo Sañjaya: Devas y Gandharvas, junto con Piśācas, serpientes y Rākṣasas, contemplaron la escena. Entonces aquel guerrero de poder inconmensurable, tras quebrar la armadura de su adversario, hirió hasta el corazón: imagen de la desnuda finalidad de la guerra, donde destreza y destino convergen ante la mirada de todos los mundos.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s recurring ethical tension: war is a public, even cosmic, spectacle, yet its outcome is intimate and irreversible—armor breaks, the heart is pierced. It highlights the gravity of kṣatriya action: prowess must be weighed against the moral cost and the inevitability of death once violence is unleashed.
Sañjaya reports that many orders of beings—celestial and fearsome—are witnessing the battle. In that moment, a mighty warrior breaks through an opponent’s armor and strikes the heart, indicating a decisive, likely fatal blow observed by the assembled worlds.