Shloka 25
आपूर्यते कौरवी चाप्यभीक्षणं सेना हासौ सुभृशं हन्यमाना । धनंजयस्याशनितुल्यवेगै- ग्रेस््ता शरै: काउचनबर्हिबाजै:
āpūryate kauravī cāpy abhīkṣṇaṁ senā hāsau subhṛśaṁ hanyamānā | dhanaṁjayasya aśanitulya-vegair agreṣṭhaiḥ śaraiḥ kāñcana-barhibājaiḥ ||
Bhīmasena dit : «Sans cesse l’armée des Kaurava est submergée ; frappée avec une dureté implacable, elle pousse de grands cris d’angoisse. Car les flèches les plus éminentes de Dhanañjaya—rapides comme la foudre, ornées d’or et empennées de plumes de paon—l’écrasent.»
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the overwhelming force of disciplined martial skill and its immediate moral consequence: mass suffering. It implicitly reminds the listener that prowess in war, even when aligned with one’s side, produces real anguish—an ethical tension central to the Mahābhārata’s portrayal of kṣatriya-dharma.
Bhīma describes the battlefield situation: Arjuna (Dhanañjaya) is releasing superb, thunderbolt-swift arrows—gold-adorned and peacock-fletched—by which the Kaurava army is repeatedly battered and cries out in distress.