Shloka 28
“राजन! जैसे बरसती हुई जलधाराओंसे सम्पूर्ण दिशाएँ ढक जाती हैं, उसी प्रकार आज सब लोग मेरे तीखे बाणोंसे सम्पूर्ण दिशाओंको आच्छादित हुई देखेंगे ।। विकिरन् शरजालानि सर्वतो भैरवस्वनान् | शत्रून् निपातयिष्यामि महावात इव द्रुमान्,'जैसे आँधी वृक्षोंको गिरा देती है, उसी प्रकार मैं सब ओर बाणसमूहोंकी वर्षा करके भयंकर गर्जना करनेवाले शत्रुओंको मार गिराऊँगा
sañjaya uvāca | rājan! yathā varṣatībhir jaladhārābhiḥ samantato diśaḥ pracchādyante, tathā adya sarve janāḥ mama tīkṣṇaiḥ bāṇaiḥ samantato diśa āvṛtāḥ paśyanti | vikiran śarajālāni sarvato bhairavasvanān | śatrūn nipātayiṣyāmi mahāvāta iva drumān ||
サンジャヤは言った。「王よ、降りしきる雨の筋が四方を覆い隠すように、今日、人々は四方が我が鋭き矢に覆われるのを見るであろう。あらゆる方角へ矢の網を撒き散らし、恐るべき咆哮を上げる敵を打ち倒す——それは大いなる烈風が樹々をなぎ倒すがごとく。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the Mahābhārata’s recurring ethical tension: martial prowess and the kṣatriya drive for victory are celebrated through grand imagery, yet the very metaphors—rain that blots out the sky and a gale that fells trees—also underscore war’s indiscriminate, overwhelming destructiveness. It invites reflection on how heroic intent can coexist with catastrophic consequence.
Sañjaya, narrating the battlefield to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, reports a warrior’s fierce declaration: he will unleash such a dense barrage of arrows that the directions seem covered, and he will topple roaring enemies like a storm topples trees. The focus is on the immediacy and scale of the impending assault.