Shloka 29

Devanagari script

तावन्योन्यमभिद्रुत्य केशेषु सुमहाबलौ । भुजाभ्यां पर्यगृह्नीतां महाकायौ महाबलौ

Transliteration

tāv anyonyam abhidrutya keśeṣu sumahābalau | bhujābhyāṁ paryagṛhṇītāṁ mahākāyau mahābalau ||

Translation

सञ्जय उवाच—तौ सुमहाबलौ परस्परमभिद्रुत्य केशेषु जगृहतुः। भुजाभ्यां पर्यगृह्णीतां महाकायौ महाबलौ॥

Word by Word

तौthose two

अन्योन्यम्each other / mutually

अभिद्रुत्यhaving rushed at / having charged

केशेषुin/at the hair (by the hair)

सुमहाबलौvery mighty (two)

भुजाभ्याम्with (their) two arms

पर्यगृह्नीताम्they seized / they grasped

ताम्them (those two) / each other (as object)

महाकायौhuge-bodied (two)

महाबलौmighty (two)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the dehumanizing intensity of battle: even great warriors can be driven from disciplined weapon-combat into primal grappling. Ethically, it points to how anger and pride can overpower self-control, a recurring Mahābhārata warning about the costs of unchecked wrath in dharma-yuddha.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya narrates a close-quarters clash between two exceptionally strong, large-bodied fighters. They charge at each other, seize one another by the hair, and lock in a forceful clinch using their arms, indicating a fierce struggle at very close range.