Shloka 44
Adhyāya 16: Saṃśaptaka-vrata and the Diversion of Arjuna (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय १६)
तां शरौघमहाफेनां प्रासमत्स्यसमाकुलाम् । नदीमुत्तीर्य वेगेन कुरून् विद्राव्य पाण्डव:
tāṃ śaraugha-mahāphenāṃ prāsa-matsya-samākulām | nadīm uttīrya vegena kurūn vidrāvya pāṇḍavaḥ ||
संजय बोले—बाणों की प्रचण्ड फेन-धारा और प्रासों के मत्स्य-समूह से भरी उस नदी को वेगपूर्वक पार करके पाण्डव ने कौरवों को भगाकर छिन्न-भिन्न कर दिया।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a vivid metaphor—war as a weapon-filled river—to highlight steadfastness and daring in the face of overwhelming danger, while implicitly reminding the reader that such ‘crossings’ occur within the tragic moral pressure of fratricidal war, a central Mahābhārata concern about dharma under extreme circumstances.
Sañjaya reports that a Pāṇḍava warrior crosses a perilous ‘river’ described through battlefield imagery (arrows as a flood, spears as fish) and, moving with great speed, drives the Kaurava forces into retreat.