Shloka 3
प्राग्ज्योतिषे वज्रदत्त-धनंजय-समागमः
Vajradatta Confronts Dhanaṃjaya at Prāgjyotiṣa
रथिनो बद्धतूणीरा: सदश्वैः समलंकृतै: । परिवार्य हयं राजन ग्रहीतुं सम्प्रचक्रमु:
Vaiśampāyana uvāca — rathino baddhatūṇīrāḥ sadaśvaiḥ samalaṅkṛtaiḥ | parivārya hayaṃ rājan grahītuṃ sampracakramuḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : Les guerriers de char, les carquois attachés dans le dos, montés sur des chars richement ornés attelés de chevaux d’excellence, encerclèrent le cheval sacrificiel. Ô roi, l’ayant cerné, ils s’employèrent à s’en emparer — geste qui signifie un défi à l’Aśvamedha des Pāṇḍava et met à l’épreuve les frontières du droit et du devoir royaux.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how ritual sovereignty (the Aśvamedha horse’s free passage) becomes a moral and political test: to restrain or seize the horse is to contest the sacrificer’s authority, raising questions of rightful power, duty of neighboring rulers, and the dharmic limits of resistance.
Armed chariot-warriors, fully equipped with quivers and fine horses, surround the consecrated sacrificial horse and begin trying to capture it—an overt challenge that typically provokes confrontation with the sacrificer’s protectors.