Shloka 23
Yuddha-yajña-vyākhyāna (The Battle as Sacrifice): Ambarīṣa–Indra Saṃvāda
सामानि सामगास्तस्य गायन्ति यमसादने । हविर्धान॑ तु तस्याहुः परेषां वाहिनीमुखम्
sāmāni sāmagās tasya gāyanti yamasādane | havirdhānaṁ tu tasyāhuḥ pareṣāṁ vāhinīmukham ||
Dijo Ambarīṣa: «En su caso, los cantos del “Sāman” se entonan en la propia morada de Yama—es decir, que en el campo de batalla los gritos terribles de “¡Cortadlos!” y “¡Desgarradlos!” obran como una liturgia sombría. Aquellos soldados, como si fueran cantores del Sāman, parecen “cantar” sólo para enviar a los enemigos al reino de la Muerte. Y la división de vanguardia—la misma “boca” del ejército contrario—se describe para ese heroico patrono como el havirdhāna, el recipiente donde se deposita la ofrenda.»
अम्बरीष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses Vedic-sacrificial imagery to interpret warfare: the battlefield’s violent commands become a dark ‘Sāman’ chant, and the enemy’s vanguard becomes the ‘havirdhāna’ (offering-vessel). Ethically, it highlights how kṣatriya action can be framed as a ritualized duty, while also underscoring the grim proximity of war to death.
Ambarīṣa describes a heroic warrior (implicitly the subject under discussion) through an extended metaphor: soldiers are likened to Sāmaveda chanters, the cries of battle to sacred song, and the enemy army’s leading formation to the container that receives an offering—suggesting that enemies are being ‘offered’ to Yama through combat.