Shloka 3
Saubhadra under Concentrated Assault; Pārṣata’s Intervention and Escalation
भीष्मो हि समरे क्रुद्धो हन्याल्लोकां श्वराचरान् । स कथं पाण्डवं युद्धे नातरत् संजयौजसा,संजय! भीष्म रणक्षेत्रमें कुपित हो जायँ तो वे चराचर प्राणियोंसहित सम्पूर्ण लोकोंको मार सकते हैं। फिर वे अपने पराक्रमद्वारा युद्धमें पाण्डुकुमार अर्जुनसे क्यों न पार पा सके?
bhīṣmo hi samare kruddho hanyāl lokān sacarācarān | sa kathaṁ pāṇḍavaṁ yuddhe nātarat sañjayaujasā, sañjaya |
Dijo Dhṛtarāṣṭra: «¡Sañjaya! Si Bhīṣma, airado en el combate, podría aniquilar mundos enteros con todo lo que se mueve y lo que no se mueve. ¿Cómo, entonces, por su propio poder, no logró vencer a Arjuna, hijo de Pāṇḍu, en esta guerra?»
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension between sheer martial power and the limits imposed by circumstance, vows, strategy, and dharma: even the mightiest warrior may be unable to ‘overcome’ an opponent when higher constraints and the complex moral-psychological fabric of war are at play.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra, hearing of events in the war, expresses astonishment: Bhīṣma is famed as capable of destroying entire worlds when angered, so he asks Sañjaya why Bhīṣma could not defeat Arjuna in battle.