Shloka 46
भीष्मरक्षण-प्रकरणम् / The Protective Screen around Bhīṣma and the Śalya–Yudhiṣṭhira Clash
यथा देवासुरे युद्धे त्रिदशा वजधारिणम् | सर्वे ते सम व्यतिष्ठन्त रक्षन्तस्तं महारथम्,जिस प्रकार देवासुर-संग्रामके समय देवताओंने वज्रधारी इन्द्रकी रक्षा की थी, उसी प्रकार वे सब कौरव योद्धा महारथी भीष्मकी रक्षा करने लगे
sañjaya uvāca | yathā devāsure yuddhe tridaśā vajradhāriṇam | sarve te sama vyatiṣṭhanta rakṣantastaṃ mahāratham ||
Sañjaya said: Just as, in the war between the gods and the asuras, the Thirty (gods) stood together to protect Indra, the wielder of the thunderbolt, so too all those Kaurava warriors stood in close formation, guarding that great chariot-warrior Bhīṣma. The verse underscores the ethic of collective duty in battle: protecting the commander becomes a shared responsibility, mirroring the gods’ united defense of their leader.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the battlefield ethic of shared responsibility: when a leader or key warrior is crucial to the army’s stability, protecting him becomes a collective duty, exemplified through the gods’ united defense of Indra.
Sañjaya describes the Kaurava fighters forming up around Bhīṣma to guard him, comparing their protective formation to the devas standing together to protect Indra during the devas–asuras war.