Shloka 8
Dvārakā’s Distress and the Saubha Engagement (द्वारकाव्यग्रता तथा सौभयुद्धम्)
स तु बाणवरोत्पीडाद् विस््रवत्यसृगुल्बणम् | अभिवृष्टे यथा मेघे गिरिगैरिकधातुमान्,पाण्डवश्रेष्ठ! उसकी छातीमें, मस्तकपर, शरीरके अन्य अवयवोंमें तथा दोनों भुजाओंमें थोड़ा-सा भी ऐसा स्थान नहीं दिखायी देता था, जिसमें बाण न चुभे हुए हों। जैसे मेघके वर्षा करनेपर गेरू आदि धातुओंसे युक्त पर्वत लाल पानीकी धारा बहाने लगता है, वैसे ही वह बाणोंसे छिदे हुए अपने अंगोंसे भयंकर रक्तकी धारा बहा रहा था
sa tu bāṇavarotpīḍād visravaty asṛg ulbaṇam | abhivṛṣṭe yathā meghe girigairikadhātumān ||
Vāyu said: “But, tormented by the pressure of the arrows, he began to pour forth a dreadful stream of blood. Just as, when a cloud rains heavily, a mountain rich in red ochre and mineral pigments sends down reddish torrents of water, so too did he—his limbs pierced through by arrows—let loose fearsome flows of blood.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark cost of violence: even heroic conflict results in intense bodily suffering. Ethically, it functions as a sobering reminder that valor and victory are inseparable from pain and the grave consequences of warfare.
Vāyu describes a combatant (previously introduced in the passage) whose body, pierced and oppressed by many arrows, is bleeding profusely. The scene is intensified through a simile: like a mineral-rich mountain releasing red torrents when drenched by rainclouds, the wounded figure pours out streams of blood.