Shloka 363
भीमसेनस्य वेगाभिपातः—विशोकसारथिसंवादश्च
Bhīma’s surge and dialogue with charioteer Viśoka
छादयामास समरे क्रुद्धो5न्तक इव प्रजा: । उसने कोई जवाब न देकर समरांगणमें कुपित हो बाणोंकी वर्षसे पाण्डुपुत्र युधिष्ठिरको उसी प्रकार ढक दिया, जैसे प्रलयकालमें क्रुद्ध यमराज सारी प्रजाको अदृश्य कर देता है
chādayāmāsa samare kruddho 'ntaka iva prajāḥ |
In the thick of battle, he—wrathful like Antaka (Death)—covered the warriors with a shower of arrows, as though at the time of dissolution the enraged Lord of Death were to blot out all creatures from sight. The image underscores how unchecked fury in war can assume the aspect of cosmic annihilation, eclipsing ordinary moral limits.
(युधिष्टिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a cosmic simile—Death at dissolution—to show how rage in warfare can become indiscriminate and overwhelming, momentarily resembling a force that erases distinctions and threatens the moral order (dharma) that should restrain violence.
During the battle, a furious warrior overwhelms the opposing side with a dense rain of arrows, metaphorically ‘covering’ them, and the poet compares this to Death (Antaka/Yama) obscuring all beings at the end-time.