Shloka 21
Adhyāya 61: Saṃmohana-astra and the Kuru Withdrawal (संमोहनास्त्रं तथा कुरुनिवृत्तिः)
पाणिपादशिर:पृष्ठबाहुशाखानिरन्तरम् । वनं कुरूणां छेत्स्यामि शरै: संनतपर्वभि:
pāṇipādaśiraḥpṛṣṭhabāhuśākhānirantaram | vanaṃ kurūṇāṃ chetsyāmi śaraiḥ saṃnataparvabhiḥ ||
ਅੱਜ ਮੈਂ ਝੁਕੇ ਹੋਏ ਗੰਢਾਂ ਵਾਲੇ ਤੀਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਕੁਰੂਆਂ ਦੇ ਉਸ ਜੰਗਲ ਨੂੰ ਕੱਟ ਸੁੱਟਾਂਗਾ— ਜੋ ਹੱਥਾਂ, ਪੈਰਾਂ, ਸਿਰਾਂ, ਪਿੱਠਾਂ ਅਤੇ ਬਾਂਹਾਂ ਰੂਪੀ ਟਾਹਣੀਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਘਣਾ ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ।
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a stark metaphor—an army as a forest of human limbs—to highlight both the warrior’s resolve and the grave ethical reality of battle: even when war is pursued as duty, it entails the cutting down of lives, not merely the winning of a contest.
The narrator describes a vow-like declaration to destroy the Kuru forces with arrows, portraying the opposing host as a dense forest whose ‘branches’ are the soldiers’ limbs—an image that intensifies the scene’s ferocity and impending slaughter.