Shloka 6
नेमिनिहादिसंतापो महास्त्रोदयपावक: । चित्रचापमहाज्वालो वीरक्षयमहेन्धन:,अताडयन् रणे भीष्मं सहिता: सर्वसृञज्जया: । समस्त सूंजय वीर एक साथ संगठित हो भयंकर शतघ्नी, परिघ, फरसे, मुद्गर, मुसल, प्रास, गोफन, स्वर्णमय पंखवाले बाण, शक्ति, तोमर, कम्पन, नाराच, वत्सदन््त और भुशुण्डी आदि अस्त्र-शस्त्रोंद्वारा रणभूमिमें भीष्मको सब ओरसे पीड़ा देने लगे
sañjaya uvāca | neminihādisantāpo mahāstrodayapāvakaḥ | citracāpamahājvālo vīrakṣayamahendhanaḥ | atāḍayan raṇe bhīṣmaṃ sahitāḥ sarvasṛñjayāḥ |
Sañjaya said: “Like a blazing fire kindled by the rising of mighty weapons—its heat fed by the whir of wheels and the clash of arms, its great flames the many-colored bows, and its fuel the destruction of heroes—the assembled Sṛñjayas struck Bhīṣma on the battlefield from every side. In their united assault, they sought to wear down the grandsire through relentless, coordinated violence, showing how war’s momentum can turn even disciplined valor into a consuming conflagration.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames battle as a consuming fire: once unleashed, violence feeds on heroic bodies and spreads through collective momentum. Ethically, it warns that even valor and duty, when absorbed into war’s machinery, can become instruments of widespread destruction—calling for discernment about the costs of conflict.
Sañjaya describes the Sṛñjaya warriors acting together to strike Bhīṣma from all sides in the Kurukṣetra war. The assault is portrayed through a metaphor of a blazing fire fueled by the fall of heroes and ignited by the deployment of powerful weapons.