Shloka 3
अभिमन्यु–अलम्बुसयुद्धम् / The Duel of Abhimanyu and Alambusa
with Arjuna’s approach to Bhīṣma
अर्धचन्द्रं च संधाय सुतीक्षणं लोमवाहिनम् । भीमसेनस्य चिच्छेद चापं क्रोधसमन्वित:,इतना ही नहीं, उसने कुपित होकर पंखयुक्त अत्यन्त तीखे अर्धचन्द्राकार बाणका प्रयोग करके भीमसेनके धनुषको काट दिया
ardhacandraṃ ca sandhāya sutīkṣṇaṃ lomavāhinam | bhīmasenasya ciccheda cāpaṃ krodhasamanvitaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Then, fitting to his bow a razor-sharp, feathered arrow shaped like a half-moon, he—seized by anger—sheared through Bhīmasena’s bow. In the ethics of battle, the act signals a shift from mere exchange of missiles to the tactical disabling of an opponent’s means of combat, revealing how wrath can sharpen skill into a decisive, disarming strike.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how anger (krodha) can drive a warrior toward decisive, even disabling tactics—cutting the opponent’s bow rather than merely trading blows—raising an ethical tension between skillful strategy and the destabilizing force of wrath in righteous warfare.
In the midst of battle, an unnamed warrior (as implied by the verse context) nocks a sharp, feathered, crescent-shaped arrow and cuts through Bhīmasena’s bow, temporarily depriving Bhīma of his primary weapon.