Shloka 426

भीष्मधनंजयद्वैरथम्

Bhīṣma–Dhanaṃjaya Duel and the Opening Clash

Devanagari script

तमर्जुन: प्रत्यविध्यद्‌ दशभिर्मर्म भेदिभि: । गंगानन्दन भीष्मने उस रणक्षेत्रमें नौ बाणोंसे अर्जुनको गहरी चोट पहुँचायी। तब अर्जुनने भी उन्हें दस मर्मभेदी बाणोंद्वारा बींध डाला

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | tam arjunaḥ pratyavidhyad daśabhir marma-bhedibhiḥ |

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。アルジュナは応じて、急所を穿つ十本の矢で彼を射返した。戦場の激しい応酬の中、ガンガーの子ビーシュマは九本の矢でアルジュナに深手を負わせたが、アルジュナもまた、マルマン（急所）を破る十本の矢で彼を貫いた。

Word by Word

तम्him

अर्जुनःArjuna

प्रत्यविध्यत्pierced, struck through

दशभिःwith ten

मर्मभेदिभिःwith vital-part-piercing (arrows)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Arjuna

Bhīṣma (implied as the one struck back; Gaṅgā-nandana in the provided Hindi gloss)

battlefield (raṇa-kṣetra; implied by context)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even within dharma-yuddha, action has moral gravity: the verse highlights deliberate, skilled violence (targeting vital points) and thereby invites reflection on responsibility, restraint, and the heavy cost of fulfilling kṣatriya duty.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the ongoing duel, after being wounded, Arjuna retaliates and pierces his opponent—understood in context as Bhīṣma—with ten vital-point-piercing arrows, intensifying the battlefield exchange.