Shloka 42

Devanagari script

सहसतनेत्राशनितुल्यवीर्य कालानल व्यात्तमिवातिघोरम्‌ । पिनाकनारायणचक्रसंनिभं भयड़्करं प्राणभृतां विनाशनम्‌

Transliteration

sahasratanetrāśanitulyavīrya kālānalavyāttamivātighoram | pinākanārāyaṇacakrasaṃnibhaṃ bhayaṅkaraṃ prāṇabhṛtāṃ vināśanam ||

Translation

அதன் வலிமை ஆயிரக்கண் இந்திரனின் வஜ்ரத்துக்கு ஒப்பானது; யுகாந்தக் காலானலத்தின் விரிந்த தீப்பிளம்புபோல் மிகக் கொடுமையாகத் தோன்றியது. சிவனின் பினாகமும் நாராயணனின் சக்கரமும் போல், உயிருள்ளோரின் உள்ளத்தில் அச்சம் ஊட்டுவது—உயிர்களை அழிக்கவே உருவான சக்தி.

Word by Word

सहस्रतनेत्रhaving a thousand eyes (Indra-like)

अशनितुल्यवीर्यof power equal to a thunderbolt

कालानलlike the fire of Time (cosmic conflagration)

व्यात्तम्gaping wide/opened

इवas if/like

अतिघोरम्exceedingly terrible

पिनाकनारायणचक्रसंनिभम्resembling Pinaka, Narayana, and the discus (Sudarshana)

भयङ्करम्fear-causing

प्राणभृताम्of living beings

विनाशनम्destroyer/destruction-causing

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Indra (Sahasranetra)

Kāla (Time, as cosmic destroyer)

Śiva (Pināka)

Nārāyaṇa/Viṣṇu (Cakra)

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 frames battlefield power through cosmic and divine metaphors—Indra’s thunderbolt, Time’s consuming fire, Śiva’s bow, and Viṣṇu’s discus—suggesting that in war human violence can resemble impersonal, world-ending forces. Ethically, it underscores the terror and moral weight of destruction: when weapons become ‘vināśana’ for living beings, the listener is pushed to reflect on restraint, responsibility, and the tragic cost that adharma-driven conflict unleashes.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya is reporting to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describing a fearsome weapon/force seen on the battlefield. He emphasizes its overwhelming, almost apocalyptic intensity by likening it to the greatest divine weapons and to the end-of-age fire, conveying how it inspires dread and threatens the lives of all combatants.