Shloka 16
Adhyāya 18 — Sequential Duels and Formation Pressure
Ulūka–Yuyutsu; Śakuni–Sutasoma; Kṛpa–Dhṛṣṭadyumna; Kṛtavarmā–Śikhaṇḍin
अनेकैश्न शिलाधौतैर्वज्ञाशनिविषोपमै: । शरैर्निजध्निवान् पार्थों महेन्द्र इव दानवान्,जैसे देवराज इन्द्र दानवोंका संहार करते हैं, उसी प्रकार कुन्तीकुमार अर्जुनने शिलापर तेज किये हुए वज्र, अशनि तथा विषके तुल्य अनेक भयंकर बाणोंद्वारा उन संशप्तक वीरोंका वध कर डाला
anekaiś ca śilādhautair vajrāśaniviṣopamaiḥ | śaraiḥ nijaghnivān pārtho mahendra iva dānavān ||
Sañjaya said: Then Pārtha (Arjuna) struck down those warriors with many arrows, sharpened on stone and likened to the thunderbolt, the lightning-stroke, and even poison in their deadly force—just as Mahendra (Indra), king of the gods, destroys the Dānavas. The verse heightens the ethical tension of war: Arjuna’s prowess is portrayed as divinely comparable, yet it is exercised within the grim necessity of battlefield duty rather than personal cruelty.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ideal of kṣatriya prowess exercised as battlefield duty: Arjuna’s force is depicted as Indra-like—overwhelming and decisive—yet framed as action within the ordained role of a warrior in a dharmic conflict, not as gratuitous violence.
Sañjaya narrates that Arjuna (Pārtha) kills opposing fighters using many stone-honed arrows, whose deadliness is compared to Indra’s thunderbolt, lightning, and poison; the simile presents Arjuna as a near-divine destroyer of foes, like Indra against the Dānavas.