Shloka 75

भीमसेनस्य बहुमहारथसंयुगः

Bhīmasena’s Engagement with Multiple Mahārathas

Devanagari script

तारापतिमिवापूर्णमन्तकाले यदृच्छया । 'शत्रुसूदन! मैं सब शत्रुओंका अन्त कर डालूँगा। देखिये, आज ही मैं पूर्ण चन्द्रमाके समान दुर्जय वीर महारथी भीष्मको उनके अन्तिम समयमें इच्छानुसार मार गिराता हूँ ।। ७४ है || माधवस्तु वच: श्रुत्वा फाल्गुनस्य महात्मन:

Transliteration

tārāpatim ivāpūrṇam antakāle yadṛcchayā |

Translation

Sañjaya said: “As though (striking down) the lord of the stars—the moon—when it is not yet full, at the destined end-time, by sheer chance…” (The line introduces Arjuna’s boastful resolve to fell Bhīṣma, likening the act to an extraordinary, almost unnatural feat; it frames the ethical tension between heroic vow, fate, and the grim inevitability of war.)

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'tārā-pati', 'definition': '‘lord of the stars’

• the Moon'}, {'term': 'iva', 'definition': 'like, as if'}, {'term': 'apūrṇa', 'definition': 'not full (esp. of the moon)

• incomplete'}, {'term': 'antakāla', 'definition': 'the final time

• destined end'}, {'term': 'yadṛcchayā', 'definition': 'by chance

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Moon (tārāpati)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse’s simile highlights the unsettling power of time (antakāla) and contingency (yadṛcchayā): even the seemingly ‘unassailable’ can be brought down when destiny ripens, reminding the reader that prowess and plans operate within larger forces of fate and mortality.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya continues reporting the battlefield dialogue: this line serves as a poetic lead-in to Arjuna’s declaration that he will bring down Bhīṣma, portraying the act as extraordinary—like striking the moon before it is full—thus intensifying the dramatic stakes before Kṛṣṇa’s response.