Shloka 20
Book 10, Adhyāya 12: Aśvatthāmā’s Request for the Cakra and the Brahmaśiras Context
स सुनाभं सहस्रारं वजनाभमयस्मयम् । वत्रे चक्रं महाभागो मत्त: स्पर्धन्मया सह,“तब उस महाभागने मेरे साथ स्पर्धा रखते हुए मुझसे मेरा वह लोहमय चक्र माँगा, जिसकी सुन्दर नाभिमें वज्र लगा हुआ है तथा जो एक सहसखत्र अरोंसे सुशोभित होता है!
sa sunābhaṁ sahasrāraṁ vajranābham ayasmayam | vavre cakraṁ mahābhāgo mattaḥ spardhan mayā saha ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Competing with me, that illustrious man asked from me my iron discus—beautiful at the hub, set with a thunderbolt, and adorned with a thousand spokes. The request, made in the spirit of rivalry, signals how even formidable weapons become objects of contest and possession in the grim aftermath of war.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how rivalry and the desire to possess instruments of power can persist even after catastrophic violence; ethically, it points to the danger of treating weapons as trophies rather than reflecting on restraint and responsibility.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that an illustrious figure, acting in competition with the speaker, asks him for a specific iron discus described in detail—beautiful at the hub, vajra-set, and thousand-spoked—emphasizing the weapon’s formidable and symbolic character.