Shloka 27
Śaṅkha–Likhita Upākhyāna: Daṇḍa, Confession, and the Purification of Kingship (शङ्ख-लिखितोपाख्यानम्)
धनुर्यूपो रशना ज्या शर: खुक् स्रुवः खड्गो रुधिरं यत्र चाज्यम् । रथो वेदी कामगो युद्धमग्नि- श्वातुर्होत्रं चतुरो वाजिमुख्या:
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
dhanur yūpo raśanā jyā śaraḥ śuk sruvaḥ khaḍgo rudhiraṃ yatra cājyam |
ratho vedī kāmago yuddham agniś cāturhotraṃ caturo vājimukhyāḥ ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「彼の弓は祭柱（ユーパ）となり、腰帯の紐は弓弦となった。矢は酌勺（スルヴァ）のごとく、剣は供匙の務めを果たした。そこでは血そのものが酥油（ギー）に代わった。意のままに走る戦車は祭壇となり、戦いは火となり、四頭の最上の馬は四火祭（チャートゥルホートラ）の四人の主祭司に等しかった。かくして俊敏にして獅子のごとき王ハヤグリーヴァは、この『供犠』の火に敵を投じ、ついには自らの生命の息をも捧げて罪を離れ、戦の終わりをあたかも結願のアヴァブリタ沐浴のように成し遂げ、いま神々の世界にて歓喜している。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames righteous battle (undertaken as kṣatriya-duty) through the imagery of a Vedic sacrifice: instruments of war become ritual implements, and the warrior’s final self-offering is likened to the sacrifice’s completion and purification. It emphasizes intention, duty, and the idea that disciplined action can be interpreted within a sacred-ethical order.
Vaiśampāyana describes a warrior-king (Hayagrīva) whose combat is poetically presented as a yajña: bow as yūpa, chariot as altar, battle as fire, and horses as priests. By ‘offering’ enemies and ultimately his own life, he is said to attain purification and joy in Devaloka, as if he had completed the concluding avabhṛtha bath of a sacrifice.