Shloka 5
धनंजयस्य आश्वासनम्
Dhanaṃjaya’s Reassurance and the Opening Engagement
अस्त्राणां च बल॑ तेषां मानुषेषु प्रयुझजताम् । तच्च भीम॑ महद् युद्ध कृपार्जुनसमागमे । द्रष्टम भ्यागता देवा: स्वविमानै: पृथक् पृथक्,कृपाचार्य और अर्जुनके संग्राममें देवताओंके उन अस्त्रोंकी शक्तिका मनुष्योंपर प्रयोग करनेवाले शूरवीरोंके उस महाभयंकर युद्धको अपनी आँखों देखनेके लिये देवतालोग पृथक्-पृथक् अपने विमानोंपर बैठकर आये थे
Vaiśampāyana uvāca | astrāṇāṃ ca balaṃ teṣāṃ mānuṣeṣu prayuñjatām | tac ca bhīmaṃ mahad yuddhaṃ kṛpārjuna-samāgame | draṣṭum abhyāgatā devāḥ svavimānaiḥ pṛthak pṛthak ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは語った。「人の世において天界の武器が用いられるとき、その威力をこの目で見届けようと、神々は来集した――それぞれが別々に、自らの空行の車（ヴィマーナ）に乗って。かくして、クリパとアルジュナの遭遇により起こった、恐るべき大いなる戦いを見んがためであった。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the extraordinary moral and cosmic weight of deploying divine weapons in human conflict: such acts are not merely personal feats but events of universal consequence, drawing even the gods as witnesses. It implicitly cautions that power (bala) must be handled with responsibility, since its use reverberates beyond the battlefield.
During the Virāṭa Parva battle sequence, Kṛpa and Arjuna come into direct confrontation. Their clash becomes so formidable—marked by the use and display of powerful astras—that the gods themselves arrive in separate vimānas to watch the great and terrifying combat.