Shloka 31

Devanagari script

ऐन्द्रं पाशुपतं त्वाष्ट्र वायव्यमथ वारुणम्‌

Transliteration

aindraṃ pāśupataṃ tvāṣṭraṃ vāyavyam atha vāruṇam

Translation

Sañjaya dit : « (Il employa) l’arme d’Indra, l’arme Pāśupata, l’arme née de Tvaṣṭṛ, puis les armes de Vāyu et de Varuṇa. » Dans l’atmosphère éthique de la guerre, l’empilement de traits divins signale une escalade au-delà du combat humain ordinaire, où la puissance et la retenue (dharma) sont éprouvées au milieu de l’élan qui veut abattre l’ennemi.

Word by Word

ऐन्द्रम्Indra-related (weapon/astra)

पाशुपतम्Pāśupata (of Śiva) (weapon/astra)

त्वाष्ट्रम्Tvaṣṭṛ-related (weapon/astra)

वायव्यम्Vāyu-related (weapon/astra)

अथand then / also

वारुणम्Varuṇa-related (weapon/astra)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Indra

Paśupati (Śiva)

Tvaṣṭṛ

Vāyu

Varuṇa

divine weapons (astra)

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 war can escalate into the use of overwhelming, quasi-divine force; it implicitly raises the dharmic question of restraint—whether possessing power justifies deploying it, especially when consequences exceed ordinary human limits.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya lists a sequence of powerful divine weapons being invoked—those associated with Indra, Śiva (Paśupati), Tvaṣṭṛ, Vāyu, and Varuṇa—indicating an intense exchange of astras on the battlefield.