Shloka 38
Yuddha-yajña-vyākhyāna (The Battle as Sacrifice): Ambarīṣa–Indra Saṃvāda
हविर्धानं स्ववाहिन्यास्तदस्याहुर्मनीषिण: । जो वीर शत्रुसेना के मुहानेको पत्नीशाला बना लेता है, मनीषी पुरुष उसके लिये अपनी सेनाके प्रमुख भागको युद्ध-यज्ञके हवनीय पदार्थोंके रखनेका पात्र बताते हैं ।।
havirdhānaṃ svavāhinyās tad asyāhur manīṣiṇaḥ | yo vīraḥ śatrusenāyā mukhānaṃ patnīśālāṃ banālayati, manīṣiṇaḥ puruṣāḥ tasmai svasenāyāḥ pradhānabhāgaṃ yuddhayajñasya havanīyadravyāṇāṃ nidhānapātraṃ vadanti || sadasyā dakṣiṇā yodhā āgnīdhraś cottarāṃ diśam ||
アンバリーシャは言った。「賢者たちは、この『戦の祭（ユッダ・ヤジュニャ）』において供物（ハヴィス）を納める最上の器は、よく統率された自軍そのものであると説く。敵軍の陣頭、その『口』を『妻たちの館』に変える者――すなわち前面で敵を打ち砕き、辱める英雄――その者こそ、識者の言によれば、味方にとって勝利の供物を収める主たる器となる。戦士はダクシナー（祭礼の報酬）であり、式を司る者は儀礼の成員であり、アーグニードラの祭官は北方に配される。」
अम्बरीष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames warfare through the ethical and symbolic language of yajña: disciplined collective effort (one’s own army) is treated as the chief ‘receptacle’ of success, and decisive courage that breaks the enemy’s front is praised as the principal means by which the ‘offerings’ of victory are secured—while reminding that war has costs, likened to dakṣiṇā (the fee paid in a sacrifice).
Ambarīṣa continues a discourse that maps elements of a Vedic sacrifice onto the battlefield: the army becomes ritual apparatus, warriors become the sacrificial ‘fee,’ and roles like the Āgnīdhra are assigned directions—using this metaphor to explain how leadership and valor function within the larger order of dharma and statecraft.