Shloka 42
सहसतनेत्राशनितुल्यवीर्य कालानल व्यात्तमिवातिघोरम् । पिनाकनारायणचक्रसंनिभं भयड़्करं प्राणभृतां विनाशनम्
sahasratanetrāśanitulyavīrya kālānalavyāttamivātighoram | pinākanārāyaṇacakrasaṃnibhaṃ bhayaṅkaraṃ prāṇabhṛtāṃ vināśanam ||
Sañjaya berkata: “Ia amat menggerunkan—kekuatannya seperti vajra Indra yang bermata seribu, seperti nyalaan api Kala pada penghujung zaman yang menganga dahsyat. Menyerupai Pināka Śiva dan cakra Nārāyaṇa, ia menanam ketakutan pada segala makhluk bernyawa, suatu daya yang dicipta untuk memusnahkan kehidupan.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames battlefield power through cosmic and divine metaphors—Indra’s thunderbolt, Time’s consuming fire, Śiva’s bow, and Viṣṇu’s discus—suggesting that in war human violence can resemble impersonal, world-ending forces. Ethically, it underscores the terror and moral weight of destruction: when weapons become ‘vināśana’ for living beings, the listener is pushed to reflect on restraint, responsibility, and the tragic cost that adharma-driven conflict unleashes.
Sañjaya is reporting to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describing a fearsome weapon/force seen on the battlefield. He emphasizes its overwhelming, almost apocalyptic intensity by likening it to the greatest divine weapons and to the end-of-age fire, conveying how it inspires dread and threatens the lives of all combatants.