Mahabharata 3.21.8 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 21, Shloka 8
Dvārakā’s Distress and the Saubha Engagement (द्वारकाव्यग्रता तथा सौभयुद्धम्)
स तु बाणवरोत्पीडाद् विस््रवत्यसृगुल्बणम् | अभिवृष्टे यथा मेघे गिरिगैरिकधातुमान्
sa tu bāṇavarotpīḍād visravaty asṛg ulbaṇam | abhivṛṣṭe yathā meghe girigairikadhātumān ||
वायुरुवाच— स तु बाणवरोत्पीडाद् विस्रवत्यसृगुल्बणम्। अभिवृष्टे यथा मेघे गिरिर्गैरिकधातुमान् रक्ताभा धारा विमुञ्चति, तथा स शरैर्विद्धाङ्गो भीमामसृग्धारां व्यसृजत्।
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark cost of violence: even heroic conflict results in intense bodily suffering. Ethically, it functions as a sobering reminder that valor and victory are inseparable from pain and the grave consequences of warfare.
Vāyu describes a combatant (previously introduced in the passage) whose body, pierced and oppressed by many arrows, is bleeding profusely. The scene is intensified through a simile: like a mineral-rich mountain releasing red torrents when drenched by rainclouds, the wounded figure pours out streams of blood.
Ask anything about this verse
A free Google sign-in keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Mahabharata in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with audio, word-by-word meanings, and more.