Shloka 36

उपायैः पूर्ववधकथनम् / Strategic Justifications for Prior Eliminations

Devanagari script

शरधारास्त्रपवनां भुशं शीतोष्णसंकुलाम्‌ । घोरां विस्मापनीमुग्रां जीवितच्छिदमप्लवाम्‌

Transliteration

śaradhārāstrapavanāṁ bhuśaṁ śītoṣṇasaṅkulām | ghorāṁ vismāpanīm ugrāṁ jīvitacchidam aplavām ||

Translation

Sañjaya berkata: Mengamuklah angin senjata dan aliran anak panah—ganas, mencengangkan, mengerikan—bercampur ekstrem dingin dan panas; ia menebas kehidupan itu sendiri, dan tak menyisakan perlindungan atau jalan untuk menyeberang menuju selamat.

Word by Word

शरधाराःstreams/showers of arrows

अस्त्रपवनाम्a wind of missiles/weapons

भृशम्exceedingly, greatly

शीतोष्णसंकुलाम्filled with cold and heat

घोराम्terrible

विस्मापनीम्astonishing, causing amazement

उग्राम्fierce

जीवितच्छिदम्life-cutting, taking away life

अप्लवाम्without a raft/means of crossing; inescapable

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

arrows (śara)

weapons/missiles (astra)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the moral gravity and human cost of war: when violence becomes all-consuming, it feels like an inescapable natural calamity—astonishing in power yet destructive of life, leaving little room for safety or ethical clarity.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya vividly reports the battlefield as a catastrophic ‘storm’—a wind of weapons and a rain of arrows—so intense and bewildering that it seems to annihilate life and offers no refuge, conveying the overwhelming momentum of the fighting in Droṇa Parva.