Shloka 23
Yuddha-yajña-vyākhyāna (The Battle as Sacrifice): Ambarīṣa–Indra Saṃvāda
सामानि सामगास्तस्य गायन्ति यमसादने । हविर्धान॑ तु तस्याहुः परेषां वाहिनीमुखम्
sāmāni sāmagās tasya gāyanti yamasādane | havirdhānaṁ tu tasyāhuḥ pareṣāṁ vāhinīmukham ||
アンバリーシャは言った。「この勇者の場合、『サーマン』の詠唱はヤマ（死王）の住処そのもので歌われる—すなわち戦場において、『斬り捨てよ！』『引き裂け！』という凄惨な叫びが、陰鬱な祭式の聖歌となるのだ。兵たちはまるでサーマンの歌い手のように、敵を死の国へ送り込むためだけに『歌って』いるかに見える。そして敵軍の先鋒—その軍の『口』ともいうべき主力—は、その英雄なる祭主にとって havirdhāna、供物（ハヴィス）を置く器と説かれる。」
अम्बरीष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses Vedic-sacrificial imagery to interpret warfare: the battlefield’s violent commands become a dark ‘Sāman’ chant, and the enemy’s vanguard becomes the ‘havirdhāna’ (offering-vessel). Ethically, it highlights how kṣatriya action can be framed as a ritualized duty, while also underscoring the grim proximity of war to death.
Ambarīṣa describes a heroic warrior (implicitly the subject under discussion) through an extended metaphor: soldiers are likened to Sāmaveda chanters, the cries of battle to sacred song, and the enemy army’s leading formation to the container that receives an offering—suggesting that enemies are being ‘offered’ to Yama through combat.