Shloka 38
Somadatta–Sātyaki Engagement; Bhīma’s Interventions; Droṇa–Yudhiṣṭhira Astra Exchange
Book 7, Chapter 132
युद्धमें घोड़ों और सारथिके मारे जानेपर उत्तमौजा शीघ्रतापूर्वक अपने भाई युधामन्युके रथपर जा चढ़ा ।। स रथं प्राप्य त॑ भ्रातुर्दुयो धनहयान् शरै: । बहुभिस्ताडयामास ते हता: प्रापतन् भुवि,भाईके रथपर बैठकर उत्तमौजाने अपने बहुसंख्यक बाणोंद्वारा दुर्योधनके घोड़ोंपर इतना प्रहार किया कि वे प्राणशून्य होकर धरतीपर गिर पड़े
sa rathaṁ prāpya taṁ bhrātur yudhāmanyor dhana-hayān śaraiḥ | bahubhis tāḍayāmāsa te hatāḥ prāpatann bhuvi ||
When the horses and charioteer had been slain in battle, Uttamaujas swiftly mounted his brother Yudhāmanyu’s chariot. Having reached that chariot, he struck Duryodhana’s horses with many arrows, so that, killed by the blows, they collapsed lifeless onto the earth. The episode underscores the relentless mechanics of war: skill and speed are turned toward disabling the enemy’s mobility, even as the moral cost of such efficiency in violence remains implicit in the battlefield’s grim necessity.
द्रोण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in kṣatriya warfare, decisive action often targets the enemy’s capacity to fight (here, the horses that provide mobility). It implicitly raises the ethical tension of battlefield duty: effectiveness in war can require harsh acts, performed as part of one’s role amid a larger, tragic conflict.
After the loss of horses and charioteer, Uttamaujas quickly boards his brother Yudhāmanyu’s chariot and showers Duryodhana’s horses with many arrows, killing them so they fall to the ground, thereby crippling Duryodhana’s chariot movement.