Shloka 65
Śaineya’s Breakthrough and Reunion with Arjuna (शैनेयस्य समागमः)
पुनर्विव्याध विंशत्या सायकानां हसन्निव | विराट, ट्रुपद और उनके पुत्र धृष्टद्युम्नने पाँच-पाँच बाणोंसे उसको घायल किया। फिर शिखण्डीने पहले पाँच बाणोंद्वारा चोट करके फिर हँसते हुए ही बीस बाणोंसे कृतवर्माको बींध डाला || ६४ ई || कृतवर्मा ततो राजन् सर्वतस्तान् महारथान्,राजन्! उस समय कृतवर्माने चारों ओर बाण चलाकर उन महारथियोंमेंसे प्रत्येकको पाँच बाणोंद्वारा बींध डाला और भीमसेनको सात बाणोंसे घायल कर दिया। फिर तत्काल ही उनके धनुष और ध्वजको काटकर रथसे पृथ्वीपर गिरा दिया
sañjaya uvāca | punar vivyādha viṃśatyā sāyakānāṃ hasann iva | kṛtavarmā tato rājan sarvatas tān mahārathān | pratyekaṃ pañcabhir bāṇair vivyādha bhīmasenaṃ ca saptabhiḥ | tataḥ kṣaṇād eva teṣāṃ dhanūṃṣi dhvajāṃś ca ciccheda rathāc ca pātayām āsa pṛthivītale |
Sañjaya said: Then, as though laughing, he again pierced (his foe) with twenty arrows. O King, thereafter Kṛtavarmā, shooting shafts in every direction, struck each of those great chariot-warriors with five arrows, and wounded Bhīmasena with seven. Immediately he cut down their bows and standards and caused them to fall from their chariots onto the earth—an episode that displays the ruthless efficiency of battlefield skill, where prowess is used not merely to wound but to disarm and humiliate, intensifying the moral pressure of war upon all combatants.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how, in war, power often expresses itself through disarming and public defeat, not only through killing. It implicitly raises the ethical tension of kṣatriya-dharma: skill and courage are praised, yet the spectacle of contempt ("as if laughing") and the drive to humiliate show how easily righteous duty can slide into cruelty and pride.
Sañjaya reports that Kṛtavarmā showers arrows in all directions, striking each opposing great warrior with five arrows and Bhīma with seven. He then swiftly cuts their bows and chariot-banners and makes them fall from their chariots to the ground, marking a decisive moment of tactical dominance.