Shloka 8
विराटसभायां पाण्डवानां प्रवेशः — Arjuna’s Encomium of Yudhiṣṭhira in Virāṭa’s Court
पार्थेन सृष्ट: स तु गार्ध्रपत्र आपुड्खदेशात् प्रविवेश नागम् | विदार्य शैलप्रवरं प्रकाशं यथाशनि: पर्वतमिन्द्रसृष्ट:
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
pārthena sṛṣṭaḥ sa tu gārdhrapatra āpuḍkhadeśāt praviveśa nāgam |
vidārya śailapravaraṃ prakāśaṃ yathāśaniḥ parvatam indrasṛṣṭaḥ ||
Dijo Vaiśampāyana: La flecha disparada por Pārtha, emplumada con plumas de buitre, penetró en el elefante por la región de la sien, hundiéndose hasta las plumas. Era como si el rayo de Indra hubiera partido un radiante señor de las montañas y luego se hubiera perdido en su propio corazón: imagen de una fuerza irresistible que se enfrenta al orgullo de la potencia bruta.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the overwhelming efficacy of disciplined martial prowess: when power is guided by mastery (and not mere rage), it becomes decisive and precise—symbolized by the arrow’s clean penetration and the comparison to Indra’s vajra.
Arjuna (Pārtha) shoots a vulture-feathered arrow that pierces an elephant at the temple region, entering so deeply that even the feathers go in; the poet intensifies the scene by likening it to Indra’s thunderbolt splitting a shining mountain and vanishing into it.