Shloka 166
भीष्मपातने कर्णविलापः | Karṇa’s Lament upon Seeing Bhīṣma Fallen
धार्तराष्ट्रान् प्रथक्ष्यन्ति तथा बाणा: किरीटिन: । “वीर! जैसे बड़ी-बड़ी लपटोंसे युक्त प्रज्वलित हुई आग वृक्षोंको जलाकर भस्म कर देती है, उसी प्रकार अर्जुनके बाण धुृतराष्ट्रके पुत्रों तथा उनके सैनिकोंको जला डालेंगे
sañjaya uvāca |
dhārtarāṣṭrān pradhakṣyanti tathā bāṇāḥ kirīṭinaḥ |
vīra! yathā mahā-mahā-lapṭaiḥ yuktaḥ prajvalito 'gnir vṛkṣān dagdhvā bhasma karoti, tathā arjunasya bāṇā dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putrān teṣāṃ ca sainikān pradahisyanti |
Sanjaya said: “O hero! Just as a blazing fire, fed by great tongues of flame, burns trees and reduces them to ash, so will the arrows of Arjuna, the diadem-wearer, scorch and consume the sons of Dhritarashtra and their troops.” The image underscores the moral weight of the battle: once righteous wrath and martial skill are unleashed, adharma-driven forces are portrayed as unable to withstand the purifying, annihilating power of a just champion’s weapons.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the fire-and-trees simile to convey the unstoppable force of a righteous warrior’s action in a dharma-yuddha: when conflict becomes unavoidable, adharma-aligned power is depicted as perishing before disciplined valor and divine-backed skill.
Sanjaya, describing the battlefield to Dhritarashtra, foretells that Arjuna (called Kirīṭin) will devastate the Kaurava forces; his arrows are compared to a blazing fire that burns trees to ash.