Shloka 396
अभिमन्यु–अलम्बुसयुद्धम् / The Duel of Abhimanyu and Alambusa
with Arjuna’s approach to Bhīṣma
ये3भवन्नग्रतः क्रुद्धा राक्षसस्य पुर:सरा: । उसने कुपित हो उन भयंकर राक्षसोंको मारना आरम्भ किया, जो घटोत्कचके आगे खड़े होकर क्रोधपूर्वक युद्ध कर रहे थे
ye 'bhavann agrataḥ kruddhā rākṣasasya puraḥsarāḥ |
Sañjaya said: Those fierce warriors who stood in front, enraged and acting as the vanguard of the Rākṣasa, were attacked in wrath and he began to strike them down—an episode that underscores how, in the press of war, anger turns combat into relentless slaughter and the front line becomes the first to bear the moral and physical cost of violence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how anger (krodha) intensifies warfare into indiscriminate destruction; even when battle is framed as kṣatriya-duty, the narrative warns that wrath drives actions beyond calm discernment, making the vanguard the first victims of escalated violence.
Sañjaya reports that the enraged fighters positioned at the front—serving as the advance guard of a Rākṣasa—are met with furious counterattack, and the opposing warrior begins cutting them down at the outset of the clash.