Shloka 49
कर्णार्जुनसमागमः — The Karṇa–Arjuna Confrontation
Cosmic Spectatorship and Vows
राजन्! फिर तो उस महासमरमें सहस्रों, लाखों, करोड़ों और अरबों तीखे बाण उस अस्त्रसे प्रकट होने लगे ।।
rājan! punaḥ sa mahāsamare sahasrāṇi lakṣāṇi koṭyo 'rbudāni ca tīkṣṇabāṇāḥ tasmād astrāt prādurabhavan || jvalitais taiḥ śarair ghoraiḥ kaṅkabārhiṇavājitaiḥ | saṃchannā pāṇḍavī senā na prājñāyata kiñcana ||
サンジャヤは言った。「王よ、その大戦において、その武器から鋭い矢が、千、十万、百万、さらにそれ以上と、次々に現れ出た。兀鷲の羽と孔雀の飾り羽を矧いだ、燃え立つように恐ろしい矢によって、パーンダヴァ軍はすっかり覆われ、何ひとつ見分けられなくなった。これは、武力が歯止めなく増幅されるとき、戦場が盲目と混乱へと変わり、分別と人間的な自制がただの力に呑み込まれることを示している。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how the unrestrained deployment of extraordinary weapons (astras) can eclipse clarity and moral judgment: when violence multiplies beyond measure, the battlefield becomes a space of blindness where discrimination (viveka) and humane restraint are easily lost.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a powerful astra has released an immense rain of sharp, blazing arrows. These dreadful shafts, described by their feathered fletching, so densely cover the Pāṇḍava forces that visibility and recognition on the field collapse.