Shloka 30

Chapter 136: Pandava Counter-Encirclement and the Vāyavya-Astra Disruption

Devanagari script

ते व्यरोचन्त नाराचा: प्रविशन्तो वसुंधराम्‌

Transliteration

te vyarocanta nārācāḥ praviśanto vasuṃdharām

Translation

サञ्जयは言った。「鉄の鏃を持つ矢は、大地へと突き刺さるとき眩く輝いた—戦の容赦なき力の象徴である。人の意図は迅速で非情な破壊へと変わり、地そのものが戦禍の帰結の証人となる。」

Word by Word

• ते: they (those)
• ते: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• विरोचन्त: shone, gleamed
• विरोचन्त: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: वि + रुच्
• Form: Imperfect (Laṅ), 3rd, Plural, Parasmaipada

• नाराचाः: iron arrows
• नाराचाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नाराच
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• प्रविशन्तः: entering, piercing
• प्रविशन्तः: Karta
• Type: Participle
• Root: प्र + विश्
• Form: Present active participle (Śatṛ), Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• वसुंधराम्: the earth, ground
• वसुंधराम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: वसुंधरा
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• nārācāḥ (arrows)
• vasuṃdharā (earth)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores how actions in war become swift and irreversible: weapons launched by human choice continue on their course, and the earth itself receives and records the aftermath—inviting reflection on responsibility and the moral weight of violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes arrows (nārācāḥ) that gleam as they strike and penetrate the ground, conveying the intensity of the battlefield where volleys are so dense that even the earth is repeatedly pierced.