Shloka 29
प्राग्ज्योतिषे वज्रदत्त-धनंजय-समागमः
Vajradatta Confronts Dhanaṃjaya at Prāgjyotiṣa
ततो योधान् जघानाशु तेषां स दश चाष्ट च । महेन्द्रवज़प्रतिमैरायसैर्बहुभि: शरै:
tato yodhān jaghānāśu teṣāṃ sa daśa cāṣṭa ca | mahendra-vajra-pratimair āyasair bahubhiḥ śaraiḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : Alors, en un instant, il abattit leurs guerriers—dix et huit de plus—et envoya dix-huit combattants de premier rang au royaume de Yama, sous d’innombrables flèches de fer, insoutenables comme la foudre d’Indra.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the terrifying efficiency of battlefield power—likened to Indra’s vajra—while implicitly pointing to the ethical gravity of war: even when action aligns with a warrior’s duty, it results in irreversible loss and demands moral reflection.
The narrator states that a single fighter rapidly kills eighteen of the opposing side’s prominent warriors using numerous iron arrows, described as intolerable and thunderbolt-like in force.