Shloka 313
भीम॑ प्रच्छादयामासु: शरवर्ष: समन्तत: । “उनके मारे जानेपर मैं सारी पाण्डव-सेनाको मरी हुई ही मानता हूँ।” आपके पुत्रकी इस आज्ञाको शिरोधार्य करके समस्त राजाओंने चारों ओरसे बाण-वर्षा करके भीमसेनको ढक दिया
sañjaya uvāca | bhīmaṃ pracchādayāmāsuḥ śaravarṣaiḥ samantataḥ | “teṣāṃ māraṇe sati ahaṃ sarvāṃ pāṇḍava-senāṃ mṛtām eva manye” iti | tava putrasya etām ājñāṃ śirodhārya samastā rājānaḥ caturdiśaṃ śaravarṣaṃ kṛtvā bhīmasenaṃ pracchādayāmāsuḥ |
सञ्जय उवाच—ततः सर्वतः शरवर्षैर्भीमं प्रच्छादयामासुः। “अस्य निहतेऽहं सर्वां पाण्डवसेनामेव हतामिव मन्ये” इति। तव पुत्रस्यैतदाज्ञां शिरोधार्य सर्वे नृपाः सर्वतो दिशः शरवर्षैर्भीमसेनं समन्तात् प्रावृत्य न्यगूहन्॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how a leader’s fixation on eliminating a single pivotal opponent can shape collective action: the allied kings treat the command as paramount (śirodhārya), showing the ethical tension between loyalty/obedience and the escalating violence of war.
Sanjaya reports that, acting on Duryodhana’s order and belief that Bhima’s death would decide the war, the allied kings surround Bhima and unleash a concentrated, all-sided rain of arrows, effectively hiding him beneath the barrage.