Shloka 70
Kubera’s Arrival and the Disclosure of Agastya’s Curse
Vaiśaṃpāyana–Janamejaya Narrative
तस्य गात्राणि सर्वाणि चूर्णयामास पाण्डव: । अरत्निना चाभिहत्य शिर: कायादपाहरत्,उस समय पाण्डुनन्दन भीमने उसके सारे अंगोंको दबाकर चूर-चूर कर दिया और थप्पड़ मारकर उसके सिरको धड़से अलग कर दिया
tasya gātrāṇi sarvāṇi cūrṇayāmāsa pāṇḍavaḥ | aratninā cābhihatya śiraḥ kāyād apāharat |
Vaiśampāyana said: Then the Pāṇḍava (Bhīma) crushed all his limbs to powder; and striking him with the forearm, he tore the head away from the body. The scene underscores the fierce, punitive force unleashed in the forest narrative—violence presented not as sport, but as decisive retribution within a harsh moral landscape where protection of one’s own and the defeat of a wrongdoer can demand extreme action.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the Mahābhārata’s stark view that dharma in crisis can involve severe, decisive punishment: force is portrayed as an instrument to end a threat and uphold protection, even when the act itself is grim.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that Bhīma crushes the opponent’s limbs and then, striking with his forearm, severs and removes the head from the body—an emphatic description of the enemy’s defeat.