Shloka 110

Devanagari script

महाराज! बाण छोड़ते समय अभश्वत्थामाका धनुष अलातचक्रके समान मण्डलाकार दिखायी देता था ।। धनुश्च्युता: शरासतस्य शतशो5थ सहसख्रश: । आकाशे प्रत्यदृश्यन्त शलभानामिवायती:,उसके धनुषसे छूटे हुए सैकड़ों और हजारों बाण आकाशमें टिड्डी-दलोंके समान दिखायी देते थे

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | mahārāja! bāṇaṃ choḍate samayam aśvatthāmakaḥ dhanuḥ alātacakravat maṇḍalākāraḥ dṛśyate sma || dhanuścyutāḥ śarās tasya śataśo 'tha sahasraśaḥ | ākāśe pratyadṛśyanta śalabhānām ivāyatīḥ ||

Translation

ಮಹಾರಾಜನೇ! ಅಶ್ವತ್ಥಾಮನು ಬಾಣಗಳನ್ನು ಬಿಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಗ ಅವನ ಧನುಸ್ಸು ಅಲಾತಚಕ್ರದಂತೆ ವೃತ್ತಾಕಾರವಾಗಿ ಕಾಣುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಅವನ ಧನುಸ್ಸಿನಿಂದ ಹೊರಟ ನೂರಾರು, ಸಹಸ್ರಾರು ಬಾಣಗಳು ಆಕಾಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಿಡತೆಗಳ ಗುಂಪಿನಂತೆ ಗೋಚರಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದವು.

Word by Word

धनुःfrom the bow

च्युताfallen/shot forth

शराःarrows

तस्यof him

शतशःby hundreds

अथand/then

सहस्रशःby thousands

आकाशेin the sky

प्रत्यदृश्यन्तwere seen/appeared

शलभानाम्of locusts/grasshoppers

इवlike/as

आयतीःlines/rows (swarms in formation)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Aśvatthāman

bow

arrows

sky

alātacakra (whirled firebrand)

locust swarm (śalabha)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores how extraordinary skill in war can become terrifying when driven by anger and vengeance; it implicitly contrasts heroic prowess with the ethical cost of mass destruction, a recurring Mahābhārata concern about dharma amid warfare.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya describes to Dhṛtarāṣṭra Aśvatthāman’s rapid archery: his bow seems to form a fiery circle from speed, and his arrows fill the sky in dense streams like a locust swarm, signaling an intense and deadly phase of battle.