Shloka 49
Śiva’s Battlefield Manifestation and Vyāsa’s Śatarudrīya Exposition (शिवप्रादुर्भावः शतरुद्रीयव्याख्यानम्)
व्यधमत् कौरवीं सेनामासुरीं मघवानिव । महारथी धृष्टद्युम्नने तुरंत ही अपने बाणोंद्वारा द्रोणाचार्यको रोककर कौरव-सेनाका उसी प्रकार विनाश आरम्भ किया, जैसे इन्द्र आसुरी सेनाका संहार करते हैं ।। ४८ ई ।। वध्यमाने बले तस्मिंस्तव पुत्रस्य मारिष
sañjaya uvāca |
vyadhamat kauravīṃ senām āsurīṃ maghavān iva |
mahārathī dhṛṣṭadyumno drutam hi svaiḥ śaraiḥ droṇācāryaṃ nivārya kaurava-senāyāḥ tathā vināśam ārabdhavān, yathā indra āsurīṃ senāṃ saṃharati ||
सञ्जय उवाच—धृष्टद्युम्नो महारथी द्रोणाचार्यं शरैस्तूर्णं निवार्य कौरवीं सेनामासुरीमिव मघवान् व्यधमत्; तस्मिन् बले वध्यमाने, मारिष, तव पुत्रस्य सैन्ये महद्भयं समजायत।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights decisive action within dharmic warfare: a leader restrains a dangerous opponent (Droṇa) and thereby changes the battle’s course. The Indra–Asura comparison casts the conflict in a moralized frame—suggesting that power, when aligned with a perceived righteous cause, becomes an instrument of restoring order, even amid the tragedy of war.
Sanjaya reports that Dhrishtadyumna, an elite chariot-warrior, quickly checks Droṇa with a barrage of arrows and then begins to devastate the Kaurava formations, likened to Indra’s destruction of the Asuras’ army.