Shloka 103
आजयचघानोरसि क्रुद्ध: पाण्डवं निशितै: शरै: । महाराज! तब अभ्व॒त्थामाने कुपित हो बाणोंद्वारा भीमसेनके धनुषको काटकर उन पाण्डुपुत्रकी छातीमें पैने बाणोंका प्रहार किया || १०२ ई ।। ततोअन्यद् धनुरादाय भीमसेनो हामर्षण:
sañjaya uvāca | ājayacchaghānorasi kruddhaḥ pāṇḍavaṁ niśitaiḥ śaraiḥ | mahārāja! tataḥ aśvatthāmāne kupito bhūtvā bāṇair bhīmasenasya dhanuḥ chittvā taṁ pāṇḍuputraṁ vakṣasi tīkṣṇaiḥ śaraiḥ samajayacchat || 102 || tato 'nyad dhanur ādāya bhīmaseno 'marṣaṇaḥ ...
Sañjaya said: Enraged, he struck the Pāṇḍava on the chest with sharp arrows. O King, then Aśvatthāman, inflamed with anger, cut Bhīmasena’s bow with his shafts and pierced that son of Pāṇḍu in the breast with keen arrows. Thereupon Bhīma, intolerant of insult, took up another bow…
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how anger (krodha) drives escalation in battle: skill and courage are present, yet the ethical tension lies in how quickly wrath turns combat into retaliatory cycles. It implicitly contrasts disciplined kṣatriya conduct with the destabilizing force of uncontrolled rage.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Aśvatthāman, enraged, severs Bhīma’s bow and strikes the Pāṇḍava in the chest with sharp arrows. Bhīma, unable to endure the affront, immediately takes up another bow to continue the fight.