Shloka 20
स्त्रीपर्व — नवमोऽध्यायः | Dhṛtarāṣṭra summons the Kuru women; the city departs in collective lamentation
शरीराग्निषु शूराणां जुह॒ुवुस्ते शराहुती: । हूयमानान् शरांश्वैव सेहुरुत्तमपूरुषा:,'जन श्रेष्ठ पुरुषोंने शूरवीरोंके शरीररूपी अग्नियोंमें बाणरूपी हविष्यकी आहुतियाँ दी थीं और अपने शरीरमें जिनका हवन किया गया था, उन बाणोंका आघात सहन किया था
śarīrāgniṣu śūrāṇāṃ juhuvuḥ te śarāhutīḥ | hūyamānān śarāṃś caiva sehur uttama-pūruṣāḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Those foremost men, the heroes, poured oblations of arrows into the body-fires of warriors; and even as those arrows were being ‘offered’ into them, they endured their impact—bearing wounds with the steadfastness expected of the best of men. The verse frames battlefield suffering as a sacrificial act, highlighting disciplined courage and the ethic of endurance amid war’s devastation.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses yajña (sacrifice) imagery to portray martial endurance as disciplined self-offering: warriors bear pain and death with steadiness, aligning courage and restraint with kṣatriya-dharma even amid tragic violence.
In the aftermath of the great battle (Stree Parva’s lamentation setting), the narrator describes how heroes fought: arrows were ‘offered’ into their bodies as if into sacrificial fires, and the foremost men endured those wounds—emphasizing both the ferocity of combat and the warriors’ steadfastness.