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 ||
अंबरीष म्हणाला— त्याच्या बाबतीत यमसदनी सामगान होते; म्हणजे रणांगणावर “कापा, फाडा” असे जे भीषण घोष ऐकू येतात, तेच सामगान ठरते. ते सैनिक जणू सामगायक होऊन शत्रूंना यमलोकात धाडण्यासाठीच गातात. आणि शत्रुसैन्याचा अग्रभाग—सैन्याचे ‘मुख’—त्या वीर यजमानासाठी हविर्धान, म्हणजे हवि ठेवण्याचे पात्र, असे सांगितले आहे.
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.