Shloka 436
भीष्मस्य अप्रतिमपराक्रमः — शिखण्डिपुरस्कृतः प्रहारः
Bhīṣma’s unmatched momentum and the assault with Śikhaṇḍin in the lead
प्रेषयामास समरे स्वर्णपुड्खाजञ्छिलाशितान् | बाणोंको काटनेके पश्चात् आपके पुत्रने कुन्तीकुमार अर्जुनको तीखे बाणोंद्वारा बींध डाला, तब रफक्षेत्रमें अर्जुनने कुपित होकर अपने धनुषपर स्वर्णमय पंखसे युक्त एवं शिलापर रगड़कर तेज किये हुए बाणोंका संधान किया और उन्हें दुःशासनपर चलाया
sañjaya uvāca | preṣayāmāsa samare svarṇapuṅkhān śilāśitān | bāṇān kāṭayitvā tava putreṇa kuntīkumarārjunaḥ tīkṣṇair bāṇair viddhaḥ | tataḥ raṇakṣetre arjunaḥ kupitaḥ san svadhanūṣi svarṇamaya-pakṣa-yuktān śilā-ghṛṣṭān tīkṣṇīkṛtān bāṇān sandadhānaḥ duḥśāsanāya preṣayāmāsa ||
Sanjaya said: In the battle he discharged arrows fitted with golden feathers and sharpened on stone. After cutting down those arrows, your son then pierced Kunti’s son Arjuna with keen shafts. Thereupon, in the field of war, Arjuna—angered—set upon his bow arrows with golden wings, honed by rubbing on stone, and shot them at Duhshasana. The passage highlights the escalating cycle of retaliation in war: skill answers skill, anger answers injury, and the combatants’ resolve hardens as each seeks to overpower the other.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how quickly warfare turns into a chain of retaliation: injury provokes anger, and anger drives renewed violence. It implicitly cautions that even righteous warriors can be pulled into escalating conflict, making self-mastery and restraint ethically significant amid kshatriya duty.
Sanjaya reports that in the battle golden-feathered, stone-sharpened arrows are shot. After those arrows are cut down, Arjuna is pierced by your son’s sharp shafts. Arjuna, enraged, then fits similarly sharpened golden-feathered arrows to his bow and shoots them at Duhshasana.