Shloka 45
Śalya–Bhīma Gadā-saṃnipāta and Śalya’s Bāṇa-jāla against Yudhiṣṭhira
Book 9, Chapter 11
अविद्धयदाचार्यसुतो नातिक्ुद्धों हसन्निव | आचार्य द्रोणके पुत्र अश्वत्थामाने अधिक क़्ुद्ध न होकर हँसते हुए-से दस-दस बाणोंद्वारा द्रौपदीके वीर पुत्रोंमेंसे प्रयेकको घायल कर दिया ।। ४४ $ ।। पुनश्न भीमसेनस्य जघानाश्चवांस्तथा55हवे,(इसी बीचमें भीमसेन दूसरे रथपर आरूढ़ हो गये थे) कृतवमनने युद्धस्थलमें पुनः भीमसेनके घोड़ोंको मार डाला। तब घोड़ोंके, मारे जानेपर महाबली पाण्डुकुमार भीमसेन शीघ्र ही रथसे उतर पड़े और कुपित हो दण्ड उठाये कालके समान गदा लेकर उन्होंने कृतवर्माके घोड़ों तथा रथको चूर-चूर कर दिया। कृतवर्मा उस रथसे कूदकर भाग गया
sañjaya uvāca | avidhyad ācāryasuto nātikruddho hasann iva | daśa-daśa-bāṇair draupadī-vīra-putrāṇāṃ pratyekaṃ vyathayām āsa || punaś ca bhīmasenasya hayān jaghāna sa hāve | aśvān hateṣu mahābāhuḥ pāṇḍuputro bhīmasenaḥ kṣipraṃ rathād avatarat | kupito daṇḍam udyamya kāla-sannibhaṃ gadāṃ gṛhītvā kṛtavarmaṇaḥ hayāṃś ca rathaṃ ca cūrṇayām āsa | kṛtavarmā tu tasmād rathāt plutyāpalāyata ||
Sañjaya said: Drona’s son (Aśvatthāmā), not excessively enraged and seeming almost to smile, struck each of Draupadī’s heroic sons with ten arrows, wounding them. Meanwhile, Bhīmasena had mounted another chariot; in the thick of battle Kṛtavarmā again slew Bhīma’s horses. When his horses were killed, the mighty Pāṇḍava Bhīma quickly leapt down from the chariot. Enraged, he raised his staff-like weapon and, taking up his mace like Death itself, smashed Kṛtavarmā’s horses and chariot to pieces. Kṛtavarmā then sprang from that chariot and fled.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how warfare tests inner discipline: Aśvatthāmā’s controlled, almost smiling precision contrasts with Bhīma’s explosive wrath. It implicitly raises an ethical tension central to kṣatriya-dharma—skill and restraint versus anger-driven retaliation—showing how emotions can rapidly intensify violence and destabilize conduct on the battlefield.
Sañjaya reports that Aśvatthāmā wounds each of Draupadī’s sons with ten arrows. Kṛtavarmā then kills Bhīma’s horses again; Bhīma jumps down, enraged, and with a death-like mace smashes Kṛtavarmā’s horses and chariot. Kṛtavarmā escapes by leaping away and fleeing.