Shloka 313

Devanagari script

भृशं चित्रमयुध्येतामलम्बुषघटोत्कचौ । फिर वे क्रमश: हाथी और सिंह तथा सूर्य और राहु बन गये। इस प्रकार वे अलम्बुष और घटोत्कच एक-दूसरेके वधकी इच्छासे सैकड़ों मायाओंकी सृष्टि करते हुए परस्पर अत्यन्त विचित्र युद्ध करने लगे

Transliteration

bhṛśaṃ citram ayudhyetām alambuṣa-ghaṭotkacau |

Translation

Sañjaya dit : Alambuṣa et Ghaṭotkaca combattirent avec une férocité extrême, d’une manière merveilleuse et inquiétante. Animés du désir de s’entre-tuer, ils ne cessèrent d’engendrer des centaines de formes illusoires—apparaissant tour à tour comme l’éléphant et le lion, et même comme le soleil et Rāhu—si bien que leur duel devint stupéfiant et déroutant sur le champ de bataille.

Word by Word

भृशम्exceedingly, greatly

चित्रम्wonderful, strange (as an adverbial accusative: wonderfully)

अयुध्येताम्the two fought

अलम्बुषAlambusha

घटोत्कचौGhatotkacha

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

स

संजय (Sañjaya)

अ

अलम्बुष (Alambuṣa)

घ

घटोत्कच (Ghaṭotkaca)

र

राहु (Rāhu)

स

सूर्य (Sūrya)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how warfare can descend into bewildering deception and spectacle, where power is expressed through māyā (illusion) as much as through weapons. Ethically, it underscores the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between straightforward kṣatriya combat and tactics that obscure truth—reminding the listener that violence often breeds further distortion, fear, and moral confusion.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a fierce duel between the Rākṣasas Alambuṣa and Ghaṭotkaca. Each seeks the other’s death and repeatedly creates magical, shifting forms—likened to elephant and lion, and to the sun being eclipsed by Rāhu—making their battle extraordinarily strange and hard to comprehend.