Shloka 17
Strī Parva, Adhyāya 2 — Vidura’s Consolation on Kāla, Karma, and the Limits of Lamentation (विदुरोपदेशः)
शरीराग्निषु शूराणां जुह॒वुस्ते शराहुती: । हूयमानान् शरांश्वैव सेहुस्तेजस्विनो मिथ:,शूरवीरोंके शरीररूपी अग्नियोंमें उन्होंने बाणोंकी आहुतियाँ दी हैं और उन तेजस्वी वीरोंने एक-दूसरेकी शरीराग्नियोंमें होम किये जानेवाले बाणोंको सहन किया है
śarīrāgniṣu śūrāṇāṃ juhavus te śarāhutīḥ | hūyamānān śarāṃś caiva sehustejasvino mithaḥ ||
ヴィドゥラは言う。勇士たちの身体そのもの—供犠の火に譬えられる—へ、彼らは矢という供物を注ぎ入れた。そして光り輝く戦士たちはまた、互いの「身の火」に捧げられる矢を耐え忍んだ。この偈は戦いを陰惨なヤジュニャとして描く。勇気は儀礼の修行となり、忍耐は高価な供物となって、武勇とともに戦の恐るべき道徳的重みをも露わにする。
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses yajña-metaphor to portray warfare: heroes ‘offer’ arrows as oblations into the ‘fires’ of bodies, while the opposing warriors endure those offerings. It highlights disciplined valor and mutual endurance, while also underscoring the grim sacrificial cost of violence.
Vidura describes the mutual exchange of arrows between heroic fighters as if it were a sacrificial rite: each side casts arrows into the other’s ‘body-fire,’ and the radiant warriors withstand the incoming shafts. It is a poetic depiction of intense combat and reciprocal suffering.