Shloka 723
Śalya-hatānantarāṇi: Madrarāja-padānugānāṃ praskandana and the Pandava counter-encirclement (शल्यहतानन्तराणि—मद्रराजपदानुगानां प्रस्कन्दनम्)
अर्चिर्भिरिव सूर्यस्य दिवाकरसमप्रभौ । सूर्यके समान तेजस्वी वे दोनों वीर दिनकरकी किरणोंके सदृश निर्मल कान्तिवाले बाणोंद्वारा एक-दूसरेको आच्छादित करने लगे
arcirbhir iva sūryasya divākarasamaprabhau | sūryake samāna tejasvī tau dvau vīrau dinakarakiraṇopamau nirmalakāntivālaiḥ bāṇair anyonyam ācchādayituṃ pracakratuḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Like the blazing rays of the sun, those two heroes—equal in splendor to the Day-maker—began to veil one another with arrows, their shafts shining with a pure radiance like the sun’s own beams. The scene underscores how, in the fury of war, matched valor and brilliance can turn into mutual obscuration, where prowess seeks not illumination but the overpowering of an equal.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the paradox of martial brilliance: equal valor and radiance, when driven by rivalry in war, becomes an effort to eclipse the other. It implicitly cautions that power and splendor, without restraint, can serve domination rather than clarity or righteousness.
Sañjaya describes two evenly matched heroes in battle whose arrows, shining like the sun’s rays, fly so thickly that each seems to cover or veil the other—an image of intense, reciprocal missile-exchange.