Shloka 11

Chapter 40: Śiva in Kirāta Disguise Tests Arjuna

Mūka-vadha and the Contest

Devanagari script

दहेयं येन संग्रामे दानवान्‌ राक्षसांस्तथा । भूतानि च पिशाचांश्व गन्धर्वानथ पन्नगान्‌,मुझे वह अस्त्र प्रदान कीजिये, जिससे संग्राममें दानवों, राक्षसों, भूतों, पिशाचों, गन्धवों तथा नागोंको भस्म कर सकूँ। जिस अस्त्रके अभिमन्त्रित करते ही सहस्रों शूल, देखनेमें भयंकर गदाएँ और विषैले सर्पोके समान बाण प्रकट हों

Transliteration

arjuna uvāca | daheyaṁ yena saṅgrāme dānavān rākṣasāṁs tathā | bhūtāni ca piśācāṁś ca gandharvān atha pannagān |

Translation

Arjuna disse: «Concede-me aquela arma pela qual, na batalha, eu possa reduzir a cinzas os Dānavas e os Rākṣasas, bem como os Bhūtas e Piśācas, os Gandharvas e os Nāgas de natureza serpentina. Busco um poder astral que, uma vez consagrado pelo mantra, faça surgir saraivadas terríveis—milhares de tridentes, maças pavorosas e flechas como serpentes venenosas—para que as forças hostis que ameaçam a ordem do dharma sejam contidas de modo decisivo.»

Word by Word

• {'arjuna uvāca': 'Arjuna said', 'daheyam (daheyaṁ)': 'I may burn

• I may reduce to ashes (optative/desired action)', 'yena': 'by which

• with which (instrumental relative)', 'saṅgrāme': 'in battle

• in combat', 'dānavān': 'Dānavas

• a class of powerful anti-gods/demonic beings', 'rākṣasān': 'Rākṣasas

• man-eating/demonic beings, often hostile to dharma', 'tathā': 'and also

• likewise', 'bhūtāni': 'bhūtas

• spirits/elemental beings', 'piśācān': 'piśācas

• ghoulish spirits/demons', 'gandharvān': 'gandharvas

• celestial musicians/spirits', 'atha': 'then

• and further', 'pannagān': 'serpents

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna
• astra (weapon)
• Dānavas
• Rākṣasas
• Bhūtas
• Piśācas
• Gandharvas
• Pannagas (Nāgas/serpents)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical tension around power: Arjuna seeks a mantra-empowered weapon capable of overwhelming destructive forces. Implicitly, such power is framed as legitimate when oriented toward protecting dharma and restraining beings that threaten social and cosmic order—yet it also points to the need for discernment and restraint in wielding extraordinary force.

What is happening in the narrative?

Arjuna is petitioning for a formidable astra. He specifies its intended battlefield effect—incinerating various hostile classes of beings (Dānavas, Rākṣasas, spirits, and serpent-beings) and producing terrifying, massed manifestations of weapons upon being empowered by mantra.