Shloka 13
कुलिन्दराजावरजादनन्तर: स्तनान्तरे पत्रिवरैरताडयत् । तवात्मजं तस्य तवात्मज: शरै: शितै: शरीरं व्यहनद् द्विपं च तम्,कुलिन्दराजके छोटे भाईसे भी जो छोटा था, उसने श्रेष्ठ बाणोंद्वारा आपके पुत्रकी छातीमें चोट पहुँचायी। तब आपके पुत्रने अपने तीखे बाणोंसे उसके शरीर और हाथी दोनोंको घायल कर दिया
kulindarājāvarajād anantaraḥ stanāntare patrivarair atāḍayat | tavātmajaṃ tasya tavātmajaḥ śaraiḥ śitaiḥ śarīraṃ vyahanad dvipaṃ ca tam ||
Sañjaya said: The younger brother of the king of the Kulindas’ younger brother struck your son in the chest with excellent, feathered arrows. In response, your son, with keen shafts, wounded both that warrior’s body and the elephant he rode—showing how, in the fury of battle, retaliation swiftly follows injury and the fight descends into a cycle of harm.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the battlefield ethic of immediate counterstrike: injury provokes retaliation, and violence tends to expand (here, from the warrior to his elephant). It implicitly warns how quickly conflict escalates when driven by anger and martial pride.
A Kulinda warrior (described through a chain of kinship) shoots Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s son in the chest with fine arrows. Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s son answers by shooting back with sharp arrows, wounding both the attacker and the elephant he rides.