Mahabharata 4.13.26 — Virata Parva, Adhyaya 13, Shloka 26
Virāṭa-parva Adhyāya 13 — Kīcaka’s Proposition and Draupadī’s Dharmic Refusal
अत्यन्त हर्षमें भरकर एक-दूसरेको जीत लेनेकी इच्छावाले वे दोनों नरश्रेष्ठ वीर बाहुयुद्ध करने लगे। उस समय उन दोनोंमें बड़ी भयंकर भिड़न्त हुई। उनके परस्परके आघातसे इस प्रकार चटचट शब्द होने लगा, मानो वज्र और पर्वत एक-दूसरेसे टकरा गये हों ।।
vaiśampāyana uvāca | ubhau paramasaṃdahṛṣṭī balenātibalāv ubhau | anyonyasyāntaraṃ prepsū parasparajayaiṣiṇau || vajra-parvata-saṃghātasannibhaś ca tayor abhūd āghātajaḥ kaṭakaṭāśabdaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : Tous deux, ces hommes d’élite, remplis d’une exaltation intense, étaient d’une force prodigieuse. Chacun cherchait une ouverture chez l’autre et désirait la victoire. Lorsqu’ils se rapprochèrent pour le combat bras à bras, un choc terrible éclata entre eux ; de leurs coups réciproques jaillit un claquement sec, comme si la foudre et la montagne s’étaient heurtées. Le passage met en lumière l’ivresse de la joie guerrière et le péril de la soif de vaincre, qui pousse les combattants à guetter la moindre faiblesse de l’adversaire.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse portrays how martial exhilaration and the hunger for victory can intensify conflict: both fighters actively seek the other’s ‘opening’ (antaram). Ethically, it invites reflection on the kṣatriya drive for triumph—admirable as courage and strength, yet dangerous when victory-lust becomes the sole aim.
Two exceptionally strong warriors engage in close, arm-to-arm combat. Each looks for a moment of vulnerability in the other, and their impacts create a terrifying clash, likened to a thunderbolt striking a mountain.
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