Shloka 27
चित्रसेन: सुशर्माणं विद्ध्वा बहुभिरायसै: । पुनर्विव्याध त॑ षष्ट्या पुनश्च नवभि: शरै:
sañjaya uvāca | citrasenaḥ suśarmāṇaṃ viddhvā bahubhir āyasaiḥ | punar vivyādha taṃ ṣaṣṭyā punaś ca navabhiḥ śaraiḥ ||
चित्रसेनः सुशर्माणं विद्ध्वा बहुभिरायसैः । पुनर्विव्याध तं षष्ट्या पुनश्च नवभिः शरैः ॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the uncompromising nature of kṣatriya-duty in war: once engaged, a warrior pursues the objective with steadiness and force. Ethically, it reflects the Mahābhārata’s tension between dharma as duty and the grim cost of violence.
Sañjaya reports that Citrasena repeatedly shoots Suśarmā: first wounding him with many iron arrows, then striking him again with sixty arrows, and again with nine more, intensifying Suśarmā’s suffering on the battlefield.