Shloka 3
Arjuna Confronted by Saindhava Forces during the Aśvamedha Circuit (श्वेतवाहनस्य सैन्धवसंघर्षः)
अर्जुनार्जुन तिष्ठस्व न मे जीवन विमोक्ष्यसे । त्वां निहत्य करिष्यामि पितुस्तोयं यथाविधि,“अर्जुन! अर्जुन! खड़े रहो। आज मैं तुम्हें जीवित नहीं छोड़ूँगा। तुम्हें मारकर पिताका विधिपूर्वक तर्पण करूँगा
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca | arjunārjuna tiṣṭhasva na me jīvana-vimokṣyase | tvāṃ nihatya kariṣyāmi pitur toyaṃ yathāvidhi ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “Arjuna, Arjuna—stand your ground! You will not escape with your life from me. After killing you, I shall duly offer the prescribed water-oblations to my father.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse juxtaposes two powerful kṣatriya impulses: personal vengeance and ritual duty. The speaker frames killing Arjuna not merely as anger but as a means to fulfill a son’s obligation to honor a slain father through prescribed rites (tarpaṇa), showing how ethical self-justification can be constructed by linking violence to dharma.
A hostile challenger confronts Arjuna directly, ordering him to stand and declaring that Arjuna will not be spared. The challenger vows to kill Arjuna and then perform the customary water-offering to his own father, implying a motive of avenging the father’s death and completing funerary/ancestral obligations.