Shloka 105

कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line

Devanagari script

वृषभस्यास्थितो रुद्रो हयस्य च नरोत्तम | स्तनांस्तदा5$शातयत खुरांश्चैव द्विधाकरोत्‌

Transliteration

vṛṣabhasyāsthito rudro hayasya ca narottama | stanāṃstadāśātayat khurāṃścaiva dvidhākarot ||

Translation

नरोत्तम! रुद्र वृषभ के मस्तक और घोड़े की पीठ पर स्थित थे। तब उन्होंने घोड़े के स्तन काट डाले और वृषभ के खुरों को चीरकर दो भाग कर दिया।

Word by Word

• {'vṛṣabha': 'bull', 'asthitaḥ': 'standing, stationed upon', 'rudraḥ': 'Rudra (Śiva), the fierce form of the divine', 'haya': 'horse', 'narottama': 'O best of men (vocative address)', 'stanān': 'teats, udders (of an animal)', 'tadā': 'then, at that time', 'śātayat': 'he cut off, severed, destroyed', 'khurān': 'hooves', 'ca eva': 'and indeed', 'dvidhā': 'into two parts', 'akarot': 'he made, he rendered'}

Speaker

पितामह उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Pitāmaha (Bhīṣma)
• Rudra (Śiva)
• vṛṣabha (bull)
• haya (horse)
• dānava-nagara (demon-city)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights Rudra’s terrifying, corrective aspect: when forces aligned with adharma become entrenched (symbolized by the demon-city), the divine may act with uncompromising severity to reassert cosmic order, even through harsh, disruptive measures.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma describes Rudra standing upon a bull and a horse while looking over a demon-city; he then mutilates the animals—splitting the bull’s hooves and cutting the horse’s teats—depicting a fierce display of power in the course of subduing hostile beings.