Shloka 28
त्रिपुरदाह-इतिहासः
Tripura-destruction exemplum and counsel to Śalya
तस्य ती&णैर्महावेगैर्भल्लै: संनतपर्वभि: । व्यहनत् कार्मुकं राजंस्तूणीरांश्वैव सर्वश:
tasya tīṣṇair mahāvegair bhallaiḥ saṃnataparvabhiḥ | vyahanat kārmukaṃ rājan tūṇīrāṃś caiva sarvaśaḥ ||
サञ्जयは言った。剃刀のごとく鋭く、烈しい勢いで飛ぶバッラ（bhalla）の矢—節目の堅く整った矢柄を備えたそれら—によって、彼はその弓を、王よ、打ち落とし、さらに矢筒をもことごとく粉砕した。戦の苛烈な理において、これは意図的な武装解除である。戦士を傷つけるのみならず、戦う力そのものを断ち、技と勇を一瞬の無力へと変えるのだ。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a battlefield ethic where victory is pursued through strategic disarming—neutralizing an opponent’s means to fight rather than only inflicting bodily harm. It underscores how power in war often lies in controlling capability (weapons, resources), raising ethical reflection on whether disabling is a form of restraint or simply another efficient mode of violence.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a warrior (contextually, the opponent of the one being described) uses swift, sharp bhalla arrows to strike and break the other’s bow and to destroy his quivers, effectively leaving him without immediate means to continue archery in the fight.