Shloka 21
Adhyāya 61: Saṃmohana-astra and the Kuru Withdrawal (संमोहनास्त्रं तथा कुरुनिवृत्तिः)
पाणिपादशिर:पृष्ठबाहुशाखानिरन्तरम् । वनं कुरूणां छेत्स्यामि शरै: संनतपर्वभि:
pāṇipādaśiraḥpṛṣṭhabāhuśākhānirantaram | vanaṃ kurūṇāṃ chetsyāmi śaraiḥ saṃnataparvabhiḥ ||
Dijo Vaiśampāyana: «Con flechas de nudos doblados, talaré el ejército de los Kuru como si fuera un bosque, espesado por ramas en forma de manos, pies, cabezas, espaldas y brazos».
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a stark metaphor—an army as a forest of human limbs—to highlight both the warrior’s resolve and the grave ethical reality of battle: even when war is pursued as duty, it entails the cutting down of lives, not merely the winning of a contest.
The narrator describes a vow-like declaration to destroy the Kuru forces with arrows, portraying the opposing host as a dense forest whose ‘branches’ are the soldiers’ limbs—an image that intensifies the scene’s ferocity and impending slaughter.