Shloka 79
अस्त्रयुद्धे द्रौणिपार्थसंघर्षः — Karṇa’s Bhārgavāstra and the Search for Yudhiṣṭhira
Chapter 45
बाहुभ्यामुद्धरेद् भूमिं दहेत् क्रुद्ध इमा: प्रजा: । पातयेत् त्रिदिवाद देवान् योडर्जुनं समरे जयेत्
bāhubhyām uddhared bhūmiṃ dahet kruddha imāḥ prajāḥ | pātayet tridivād devān yo 'rjunaṃ samare jayet ||
Śalya disse: “Aquele que puder derrotar Arjuna em batalha poderia, por assim dizer, erguer a terra com os dois braços; se enfurecido, poderia queimar estes povos; e poderia até lançar os deuses para baixo do céu.”
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses deliberate exaggeration to convey that defeating a truly great warrior is not a trivial victory but a world-shaking feat; it highlights how power in war carries immense moral and cosmic stakes, and how reputation and psychological framing shape battlefield ethics and resolve.
Śalya is speaking about the extraordinary difficulty of overcoming Arjuna. By portraying the conqueror of Arjuna as capable of impossible, cosmic acts—lifting the earth, burning peoples, toppling gods—he intensifies the sense of Arjuna’s might and the gravity of the contest in the Karṇa Parva’s war setting.