Shloka 286

Devanagari script

भीष्म: प्रासृजदुग्राणि शरजालानि मारिष । “माननीय कुन्तीनन्दन! पाण्डववीरोंने जब वहाँ सेनाके प्रमुख भागका विनाश कर डाला, तब भीष्मजी भयंकर बाणसमूहोंकी वृष्टि करने लगे

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | bhīṣmaḥ prāsṛjad ugrāṇi śarajālāni māriṣa |

Translation

Sañjaya dit : «Ô noble fils de Kuntī, Bhīṣma déchaîna de farouches filets de flèches. Même après que les héros Pāṇḍava eurent brisé là le gros de l’armée, Bhīṣma se mit à verser une effroyable pluie de traits.»

Word by Word

भीष्मःBhishma

प्रासृजत्released, discharged

उग्राणिfierce, terrible

शरजालानिnets/volleys of arrows

मारिषO noble one (term of address)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

Bhishma

Pandavas (Pāṇḍava-vīrāḥ)

arrows (śara)

arrow-net/volley (śarajāla)

army/main division (senā, pradhāna-bhāga—implied by the Hindi gloss)

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 grim persistence of kṣatriya-duty in war: even when formations collapse and destruction is evident, a warrior like Bhishma continues to fight with full force. It implicitly raises the ethical tension between steadfast duty and the escalating suffering produced by relentless combat.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya reports that Bhishma responds to the Pandava warriors’ devastation of the army’s main contingent by releasing a dense, fearsome volley of arrows—intensifying the battle and attempting to check their advance.