Shloka 11
Chapter 40: Śiva in Kirāta Disguise Tests Arjuna
Mūka-vadha and the Contest
दहेयं येन संग्रामे दानवान् राक्षसांस्तथा । भूतानि च पिशाचांश्व गन्धर्वानथ पन्नगान्,मुझे वह अस्त्र प्रदान कीजिये, जिससे संग्राममें दानवों, राक्षसों, भूतों, पिशाचों, गन्धवों तथा नागोंको भस्म कर सकूँ। जिस अस्त्रके अभिमन्त्रित करते ही सहस्रों शूल, देखनेमें भयंकर गदाएँ और विषैले सर्पोके समान बाण प्रकट हों
arjuna uvāca | daheyaṁ yena saṅgrāme dānavān rākṣasāṁs tathā | bhūtāni ca piśācāṁś ca gandharvān atha pannagān |
Arjuna dijo: «Concédeme esa arma con la cual, en la batalla, pueda reducir a cenizas a los Dānavas y a los Rākṣasas, así como a los Bhūtas y Piśācas, a los Gandharvas y a los Nāgas de cuerpo serpentino. Busco un poder astral que, al ser consagrado por el mantra, haga brotar descargas terribles—millares de tridentes, mazas espantosas y flechas como serpientes venenosas—para que las huestes hostiles que amenazan el orden del dharma sean contenidas de manera decisiva.»
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical tension around power: Arjuna seeks a mantra-empowered weapon capable of overwhelming destructive forces. Implicitly, such power is framed as legitimate when oriented toward protecting dharma and restraining beings that threaten social and cosmic order—yet it also points to the need for discernment and restraint in wielding extraordinary force.
Arjuna is petitioning for a formidable astra. He specifies its intended battlefield effect—incinerating various hostile classes of beings (Dānavas, Rākṣasas, spirits, and serpent-beings) and producing terrifying, massed manifestations of weapons upon being empowered by mantra.