Shloka 40
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
भीष्मवेगमपर्यन्तं द्रोणग्राहदुरासदम् | कर्णशल्यझषावर्त काम्बोजवडवामुखम्
bhīṣmavegam aparyantaṃ droṇagrāhadurāsadam | karṇaśalyajhaṣāvarta kāmbojavaḍavāmukham ||
उस सैन्य-समुद्र का अपर्यन्त वेग भीष्म हैं; द्रोणाचार्य-रूपी ग्राह के कारण उसमें प्रवेश अत्यन्त दुष्कर है; कर्ण और शल्य उसमें मत्स्य तथा आवर्त-भँवर के समान हैं; और काम्बोजराज सुदक्षिण उसमें बड़वानल—समुद्र के भीतर की अग्नि—के समान है।
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates how rhetoric and metaphor are used to project strength and deter an opponent: formidable leaders become natural forces (ocean, crocodile, whirlpool, submarine fire). Ethically, it highlights how war discourse often magnifies power to influence morale and decision-making, even before weapons are raised.
Ulūka, speaking for the Kaurava side, describes the Kaurava host as a perilous ocean. He assigns key warriors symbolic roles—Bhīṣma as unstoppable speed, Droṇa as a deadly crocodile, Karṇa and Śalya as dangerous sea-creatures/whirlpools, and Sudakṣiṇa of Kāmboja as the hidden submarine fire—aiming to intimidate and emphasize the difficulty of confronting their army.