Mahabharata 3.21.8 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 21, Shloka 8
Dvārakā’s Distress and the Saubha Engagement (द्वारकाव्यग्रता तथा सौभयुद्धम्)
स तु बाणवरोत्पीडाद् विस््रवत्यसृगुल्बणम् | अभिवृष्टे यथा मेघे गिरिगैरिकधातुमान्
sa tu bāṇavarotpīḍād visravaty asṛg ulbaṇam | abhivṛṣṭe yathā meghe girigairikadhātumān ||
Vāyu berkata: “Namun, diseksa oleh tekanan anak-anak panah, dia mula mencurahkan aliran darah yang menggerunkan. Seperti ketika awan menurunkan hujan lebat, gunung yang kaya dengan oker merah dan pigmen galian mengalirkan limpahan air kemerah-merahan, demikian juga dia—anggota tubuhnya ditembusi panah—melepaskan arus darah yang menakutkan.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark cost of violence: even heroic conflict results in intense bodily suffering. Ethically, it functions as a sobering reminder that valor and victory are inseparable from pain and the grave consequences of warfare.
Vāyu describes a combatant (previously introduced in the passage) whose body, pierced and oppressed by many arrows, is bleeding profusely. The scene is intensified through a simile: like a mineral-rich mountain releasing red torrents when drenched by rainclouds, the wounded figure pours out streams of blood.
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