Shloka 723
Śalya-hatānantarāṇi: Madrarāja-padānugānāṃ praskandana and the Pandava counter-encirclement (शल्यहतानन्तराणि—मद्रराजपदानुगानां प्रस्कन्दनम्)
अर्चिर्भिरिव सूर्यस्य दिवाकरसमप्रभौ । सूर्यके समान तेजस्वी वे दोनों वीर दिनकरकी किरणोंके सदृश निर्मल कान्तिवाले बाणोंद्वारा एक-दूसरेको आच्छादित करने लगे
arcirbhir iva sūryasya divākarasamaprabhau | sūryake samāna tejasvī tau dvau vīrau dinakarakiraṇopamau nirmalakāntivālaiḥ bāṇair anyonyam ācchādayituṃ pracakratuḥ ||
सञ्जय उवाच—अर्चिर्भिरिव सूर्यस्य दिवाकरसमप्रभौ। तौ वीरौ शुद्धकान्तिभिः सूर्यरश्मिसमप्रभैः शरैः परस्परमाच्छादयितुं प्रचक्रतुः॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the paradox of martial brilliance: equal valor and radiance, when driven by rivalry in war, becomes an effort to eclipse the other. It implicitly cautions that power and splendor, without restraint, can serve domination rather than clarity or righteousness.
Sañjaya describes two evenly matched heroes in battle whose arrows, shining like the sun’s rays, fly so thickly that each seems to cover or veil the other—an image of intense, reciprocal missile-exchange.