Shloka 3

दुर्योधनकवचविमर्शः

Duryodhana’s Armor and the Tactical Reassessment

Devanagari script

ववुश्व॒ दारुणा वाता रूक्षा घोराभिशंसिन: । सकबन्धस्तथा<5<दित्ये परिधि: समदृश्यत,रूक्ष, भयसूचक एवं दारुण वायु बहने लगी। (दूसरे दिन सूर्योदय होनेपर) सूर्यमण्डलमें कबन्धयुक्त घेरा देखा गया

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca |

vavuśva dāruṇā vātā rūkṣā ghorābhiśaṃsinaḥ |

sa-kabandhas tathāditye paridhiḥ samadṛśyata ||

Translation

Sañjaya dit : Des vents rudes et terribles se mirent à souffler — secs, âpres, de sinistre augure, comme s’ils annonçaient le désastre. Et lorsque le soleil se leva le lendemain, on vit un cercle autour de l’orbe solaire, marqué de l’apparition d’un « kabandha », un tronc sans tête — présage effrayant au cœur de la guerre qui se déployait.

Word by Word

ववुःblew

दारुणाःterrible, harsh

वाताःwinds

रूक्षाःdry, rough

घोरdreadful

अभिशंसिनःportending evil, ominous

सकबन्धःhaving a kabandha (headless trunk) [mark]

तथाalso, likewise

आदित्येin the sun (sun-disc)

परिधिःhalo, encircling ring

समदृश्यतwas seen, appeared

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Āditya (Sun)

Paridhi (solar halo/ring)

Kabandha (headless trunk apparition/omen)

Vāta (winds)

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 the Mahābhārata motif that moral disorder and escalating violence in war are mirrored by ominous natural signs. Such portents intensify ethical urgency: when adharma grows, the world itself seems to warn of approaching catastrophe.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that terrifying, dry winds blow and that at sunrise a strange ring appears around the sun, associated with a kabandha-like form—an inauspicious omen foreshadowing grim events in the battle.