Shloka 423
मुज्चन् क्रोधविषं तीक्ष्णं प्रस्थलाधिपतिं प्रति । तत्पश्चात् पार्थ अपने दीर्घकालसे संचित किये हुए तीखे क्रोधरूपी विषको प्रस्थलेश्वर सुशर्मापर छोड़नेके लिये तीव्र गतिसे आगे बढ़े
muñcan krodhaviṣaṃ tīkṣṇaṃ prasthalādhipatiṃ prati | tatpaścāt pārthaḥ apane dīrghakālase sañcita kiye hue tīkṣṇa krodharūpī viṣako prasthaleśvara suśarmāpar choṛne ke liye tīvra gatisē āge baḍhe |
Sanjaya said: Releasing his sharp, poison-like wrath toward the lord of Prasthala, Partha then surged forward at great speed, intent on pouring out upon Susharma—ruler of Prasthala—the fierce anger he had long restrained. The verse frames anger as a venom that, once unleashed in war, becomes a deliberate act of retribution rather than a momentary impulse.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the metaphor of 'anger as poison' to highlight its corrosive nature: wrath can be stored, intensified, and then deliberately released. In the ethical frame of the epic, even when violence is sanctioned by war-duty, the text warns that actions driven by long-harbored rage risk becoming vengeance rather than disciplined dharma.
Sanjaya narrates that Arjuna (Partha) advances rapidly toward Susharma, the ruler of Prasthala, intending to unleash upon him the fierce anger he has long contained—signaling an imminent confrontation and a decisive turn in their battlefield encounter.