Shloka 12
Bhagadatta’s Advance, the Saṃśaptaka Challenge, and Arjuna’s Counterstrike (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय २६)
स शराचितसर्वाड्ि: क्रुद्धों विव्याध पाण्डवम् | नाराचैरर्करश्म्याभैर्भीमसेनं स्मयजन्निव,दुर्योधनके सारे अंग बाणोंसे व्याप्त हो गये थे। अतः उसने कुपित होकर सूर्यकी किरणोंके समान तेजस्वी नाराचोंद्वारा पाण्डुनन्दन भीमसेनको मुसकराते हुए-से घायल कर दिया
sa śarācita-sarvāṅgaḥ kruddho vivyādha pāṇḍavam | nārācair arka-raśmyābhair bhīmasenaṃ smayajann iva ||
स शराचितसर्वाङ्गः क्रुद्धो विव्याध पाण्डवम्। नाराचैरर्करश्म्याभैर्भीमसेनं स्मयन्निव॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how anger and injured pride can override restraint: even while suffering (his body covered with arrows), Duryodhana retaliates fiercely. In the ethical frame of the epic, it warns that krodha magnifies violence and hardens the heart, turning combat into personal vengeance rather than disciplined kṣatriya conduct.
Sañjaya reports that Duryodhana, already riddled with arrows, becomes enraged and shoots Bhīma with radiant, sun-like nārāca shafts, striking him as though smiling in contempt—an image of taunting aggression amid the chaos of battle.