Shloka 29
जीप नो सहज अत णिरिवानक ततः :स्वनाम् | भीमसेनो :,पांचालोंकी सेना उत्ताल तरंगोंवाले विक्षुब्ध महासागरकी भाँति गर्जना कर रही थी। महाबाहु भीमसेन दण्डपाणि यमराजकी भाँति उस विशाल सेनामें घुस गये, ठीक उसी तरह जैसे समुद्रमें मगर प्रवेश करता है। गदाधारी भीम स्वयं हाथियोंकी सेनापर टूट पड़े
bhīmasenaḥ pāñcālānāṃ senāṃ uttāla-taraṅga-vat vikṣubdha-mahāsāgara iva garjanāṃ kurvāṇaḥ | mahābāhur bhīmaseno daṇḍapāṇir yamarāja iva tāṃ viśālāṃ senāṃ praviśat, yathā samudre makaraḥ praviśet | gadādharo bhīmaḥ svayam hastināṃ senāyāṃ prapatat |
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: The Pāñcāla host, with Bhīmasena at its fore, roared like the vast ocean churned into towering waves. Mighty-armed Bhīma, bearing his staff-like weapon, plunged into that great army like Yama, the lord of justice and death, entering to mete out inevitable consequence—just as a sea-monster enters the sea. Wielding his mace, Bhīma himself fell upon the elephant-corps, breaking into it with irresistible force. The passage frames battlefield violence as the working out of fate and retribution, with Bhīma cast as an instrument of inexorable justice rather than mere rage.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses Yama and ocean imagery to suggest that in war, overwhelming force can be portrayed as the inevitable arrival of consequence—justice and retribution unfolding with a power that seems unavoidable. It highlights the epic’s tendency to frame violence not merely as personal anger but as part of a larger moral-cosmic order.
Vaiśaṃpāyana describes the Pāñcāla army roaring like a stormy ocean. Bhīma, wielding his mace, charges into the opposing host and specifically crashes into the elephant contingent, likened to a makara entering the sea—an image of fearless penetration and destructive momentum.