Shloka 20
Adhyāya 86: Irāvān’s Lineage, Cavalry Clash, and the Māyā-Duel Ending in Irāvān’s Fall
ताभ्यां मुक्ता महावेगा: शरा: काउ्चनभूषणा: । दिवाकरपथं प्राप्प च्छादयामासुरम्बरम्,उन दोनोंके छोड़े हुए महान् वेगशाली सुवर्णभूषित बाणोंने सूर्यके पथपर पहुँचकर आकाशको आच्छादित कर दिया
tābhyāṃ muktā mahāvegāḥ śarāḥ kāñcanabhūṣaṇāḥ | divākarapathaṃ prāpya cchādayāmāsur ambaram ||
Sañjaya said: Released by those two, the arrows—driven with tremendous speed and adorned with gold—reached the sun’s course and spread out so densely that they seemed to veil the sky itself. The scene underscores how martial prowess, when unleashed in war, can overwhelm the very order of nature, turning the battlefield into a spectacle of power and peril.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the overwhelming force of warfare: human aggression and skill can become so intense that it appears to eclipse even the natural order (the sun’s course and the sky). Ethically, it serves as a reminder that martial power, though part of kṣatriya duty, carries vast consequences and can darken the world when driven by conflict.
Sañjaya describes a moment in battle where two warriors discharge arrows of tremendous speed, ornamented with gold. The arrows rise to the region of the sun’s path and spread so thickly that they seem to cover the sky, conveying the scale and ferocity of the exchange.