Shloka 4
Bhagadatta’s Advance, the Saṃśaptaka Challenge, and Arjuna’s Counterstrike (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय २६)
स नाग इव नागेन गोवृषेणेव गोवृष: । समाहूत: स्वयं राज्ञा नागानीकमुपाद्रवत्,जैसे हाथीसे हाथी और साँड़से साँड़ भिड़ जाता है, उसी प्रकार राजा दुर्योधनके ललकारनेपर भीमसेन स्वयं ही हाथियोंकी सेनापर टूट पड़े
sa nāga iva nāgena govṛṣeṇeva govṛṣaḥ | samāhūtaḥ svayaṃ rājñā nāgānīkam upādravat ||
Sañjaya said: Like an elephant rushing against an elephant, like a bull meeting a bull in combat, Bhīmasena—personally challenged by the king—charged straight at the elephant-corps. The verse underscores the war’s ethic of direct, face-to-face valor: a warrior answers a public summons not with evasion but with decisive action, even against a formidable arm of the enemy.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the martial ethic of directness and courage: when openly challenged, a warrior responds without hesitation, meeting strength with strength. It also reflects the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between personal prowess and the larger, often tragic machinery of war.
Sañjaya describes Bhīmasena being personally challenged by the king (understood as Duryodhana) and then charging into the enemy’s elephant-division, likened to an elephant colliding with an elephant or a bull with a bull.