Shloka 113
गौरुडव्यूह-रचना तथा अर्धचन्द्र-प्रत्यव्यूह
Garuḍa Array and the Ardhacandra Counter-Formation
ददृशुर्देवगन्धर्वा: पिशाचोरगराक्षसा: । स तस्य कवचं भित्त्वा हृदयं चामितौजस:
dadṛśur devagandharvāḥ piśācoragarākṣasāḥ | sa tasya kavacaṃ bhittvā hṛdayaṃ cāmitaujasāḥ ||
Sañjaya dit : Les Devas et les Gandharvas, ainsi que les Piśācas, les serpents et les Rākṣasas, furent témoins de la scène. Alors ce guerrier à la puissance incommensurable, après avoir brisé l’armure de son adversaire, frappa jusqu’au cœur — image de la finalité nue de la guerre, où prouesse et destin se rejoignent sous les yeux de tous les mondes.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s recurring ethical tension: war is a public, even cosmic, spectacle, yet its outcome is intimate and irreversible—armor breaks, the heart is pierced. It highlights the gravity of kṣatriya action: prowess must be weighed against the moral cost and the inevitability of death once violence is unleashed.
Sañjaya reports that many orders of beings—celestial and fearsome—are witnessing the battle. In that moment, a mighty warrior breaks through an opponent’s armor and strikes the heart, indicating a decisive, likely fatal blow observed by the assembled worlds.