Shloka 12
दक्षिणदिशि तीर्थवर्णनम्
Southern Tīrthas: Godāvarī to Dvāravatī
त॑ं स कृष्णानिलोद्धूतो दिव्यास्त्रज्वलनो महान् । श्वेतवाजिबलाकाभृद् गाण्डीवेन्द्रायुधोल्बण:,“उस आगको युद्धमें अर्जुन नामक महामेघ ही बुझा सकेगा। श्रीकृष्णरूपी वायुका सहारा पाकर ही वह मेघ उठेगा। दिव्यास्त्रोंका प्रकाश ही उसमें बिजलीकी चमक होगी। रथके श्वेत घोड़े ही उसके निकट उड़नेवाली बकपंक्तियोंकी भाँति सुशोभित होंगे। गाण्डीव धनुष ही इन्द्रधनुषके समान दुःसह दृश्य उपस्थित करनेवाला होगा। वह क्रोधमें भरकर बाणरूपी जलकी धारासे कर्णरूपी प्रज्वलित अग्निको निश्चय ही शान्त कर देगा। शत्रुओंकी राजधानीपर विजय पानेवाला अर्जुन साक्षात् इन्द्रसे सारे दिव्यास्त्र प्राप्त करेगा
taṁ sa kṛṣṇāniloddhūto divyāstrajvalano mahān | śvetavājibalākābhṛd gāṇḍīvendrāyudholbaṇaḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Stirred onward by the wind that is Kṛṣṇa, that great cloud—its lightning the blaze of divine missiles—appeared, adorned with lines of white horses like flights of cranes, and made terrible by the Gāṇḍīva bow, like Indra’s own weapon. The image proclaims that Arjuna’s power in war is not mere personal prowess: it rises through righteous alliance and divine support, and is directed toward quelling destructive fire with disciplined force.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames martial power as ethically guided and relational: Arjuna’s might is envisioned as a rain-cloud whose rise depends on Kṛṣṇa’s ‘wind’—suggesting that strength becomes effective and legitimate when aligned with righteous counsel and divine support, not when driven by ego alone.
Vaiśaṃpāyana uses an extended metaphor: Arjuna is likened to a great cloud stirred by Kṛṣṇa, with divine weapons as lightning, white horses as crane-flights, and the Gāṇḍīva as Indra’s weapon/rainbow—foreshadowing Arjuna’s formidable, divinely empowered role in battle.