Shloka 7
Bhagadatta’s Astra and the Fall of the Prāgjyotiṣa King (भगदत्त-वधः / वैष्णवास्त्र-प्रसङ्गः)
ततोडर्जुनः सुशर्माणं विद्धवा सप्तभिराशुगै: । ध्वजं धनुश्नास्य तथा क्षुराभ्यां समकृन्तत,तत्पश्चात् अर्जुनने सुशर्माको सात बाणोंसे घायल करके दो छुरोंद्वारा उसके ध्वज और धनुषको काट डाला
tato 'rjunaḥ suśarmāṇaṁ viddhvā saptabhir āśugaiḥ | dhvajaṁ dhanuś cāsya tathā kṣurābhyāṁ samakṛntata ||
Sanjaya said: Then Arjuna, having pierced Susarman with seven swift arrows, next severed his banner and his bow with two razor-edged shafts. In the ethics of battle, this act both asserts Arjuna’s mastery and checks the opponent’s capacity to continue harm, shifting the contest from mere killing to the controlled disabling of a belligerent’s means of aggression.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid war, power is ideally exercised with discernment: disabling an aggressor’s capacity to harm (cutting bow and banner) can be a dharmic assertion of control rather than indiscriminate slaughter, reflecting disciplined kṣatriya agency.
Arjuna strikes Susarman with seven swift arrows, then uses two razor-edged arrows to cut down Susarman’s chariot-banner and sever his bow, symbolically and practically undermining his fighting capability.