Shloka 19
Arjuna’s Advance toward Bhīṣma; The Gāṇḍīva’s Signal and the Armies’ Convergence (भीष्माभिमुखगमनम् — गाण्डीवनिर्घोष-ध्वजवर्णनम्)
अमृष्यमाण: संरब्धो भरनुर्दिव्यं परामृशत् । पुत्रस्य ते महाराज वधार्थ भरतर्षभ,आपके धनुर्धर पुत्रद्वारा समरांगणमें अपने सारथि विशोकको तीखे बाणोंके आघातसे पीड़ित होता देख भीमसेन सह न सके। उन्होंने कुपित होकर अपना दिव्य धनुष हाथमें लिया। महाराज! भरतश्रेष्ठ] फिर आपके पुत्रके वधके लिये अत्यन्त कुपित होकर उन्होंने पंखयुक्त क्षुरप्रका संधान किया और उसके द्वारा राजा दुर्योधनके उत्तम धनुषको काट डाला
sañjaya uvāca | amṛṣyamāṇaḥ saṃrabdho dhanuḥ divyaṃ parāmṛśat | putrasya te mahārāja vadhārthaṃ bharatarṣabha |
Sañjaya said: Unable to endure what he saw and inflamed with wrath, he seized his celestial bow. O great king, O bull among the Bharatas, intent on the slaying of your son, he then fixed a winged, razor-edged arrow and with it cut down King Duryodhana’s excellent bow. The passage highlights how, in the heat of battle, anger and the urge for retribution can drive even mighty warriors toward lethal resolve, tightening the moral tension between righteous combat and personal vengeance.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the moral danger of krodha (anger) in war: when endurance fails, wrath can convert duty-bound combat into personal vengeance. It thus sharpens the ethical tension between kṣatriya-dharma (fighting as duty) and the impulse to kill driven by rage.
Sañjaya reports that a warrior, unable to bear what he witnesses, angrily takes up a divine bow and, aiming at the death of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s son, proceeds to disable Duryodhana by cutting down his excellent bow with a sharp, winged arrow.