Shloka 63
अस्त्रयुद्धे द्रौणिपार्थसंघर्षः — Karṇa’s Bhārgavāstra and the Search for Yudhiṣṭhira
Chapter 45
एते सुपरिघाकारा: पुण्यगन्धानुलेपना: । उद्यतायुधशौण्डानां पात्यन्ते सायुधा भुजा:
ete supari-ghākārāḥ puṇya-gandhānulepanāḥ | udyatāyudha-śauṇḍānāṁ pātyante sāyudhā bhujāḥ ||
Disse Sañjaya: “Estes braços — grossos como clavas de ferro, ungidos com sagrada e fragrante pasta de sândalo — de guerreiros peritos, com as armas erguidas, estão sendo decepados e caindo, ainda agarrados às suas armas.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the stark reality of warfare: outward marks of auspiciousness and valor—fragrant sandal paste, powerful arms, raised weapons—do not protect one from destruction. It implicitly warns of the impermanence of bodily strength and the moral cost of violent conflict.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield carnage in the Karṇa Parva: warriors with weapons lifted are being struck down so that their club-like arms, still bearing weapons, are severed and fall to the ground.