Shloka 47

Devanagari script

दशशताक्षककुब्दरिनि:सृतः किरणकेसरभासुरपिज्जर: । तिमिरवारणयूथविदारण: समुदियादुदयाचलकेसरी,उदयाचलके शिखरपर चन्द्रमारूपी सिंहका उदय हुआ, जो पूर्व दिशारूपी कन्दरासे निकला था। वह किरणरूपी केसरोंसे प्रकाशित एवं पिंगलवर्णका था और अन्धकाररूपी गजराजोंके यूथको विदीर्ण कर रहा था

Transliteration

daśaśatākṣaka-kubdari-niḥsṛtaḥ kiraṇa-keśara-bhāsura-piṅgaraḥ | timira-vāraṇa-yūtha-vidāraṇaḥ samudiyād udayācala-kesarī ||

Translation

Sañjaya berkata: Dari gua arah timur bangkitlah singa Gunung Udaya—bulan—berwarna keperangan, gemilang dengan sinar bagaikan surai, merobek-robek kawanan gajah berupa kegelapan.

Word by Word

दशशताक्षककुब्दरिनिःसृतःhaving emerged from the cave with a hundred-and-ten-eyed peak

किरणकेसरभासुरपिज्जरःtawny, radiant with ray-like mane

तिमिरवारणयूथविदारणःrending the herds of darkness-elephants

समुदियात्may rise up / should arise

उदयाचलकेसरीthe lion of the eastern mountain (i.e., the sun)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Moon (as udayācala-kesarī)

Udayācala (eastern mountain)

East (as Indra’s quarter, implied by daśaśatākṣaka)

Darkness (timira, personified)

Elephants (vāraṇa, metaphorical)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even amid the violence and moral strain of battle, the poem invokes the moon’s rise as a symbol of renewed discernment: light (clarity, steadiness, right understanding) can break through darkness (fear, delusion, despair).

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the moon rising over the eastern mountain, poetically likening it to a lion emerging from a cave, its rays as a mane, and the darkness as elephant herds being scattered—marking the night’s end and a shift in the battlefield’s atmosphere.