Shloka 29
प्राग्ज्योतिषे वज्रदत्त-धनंजय-समागमः
Vajradatta Confronts Dhanaṃjaya at Prāgjyotiṣa
ततो योधान् जघानाशु तेषां स दश चाष्ट च । महेन्द्रवज़प्रतिमैरायसैर्बहुभि: शरै:
tato yodhān jaghānāśu teṣāṃ sa daśa cāṣṭa ca | mahendra-vajra-pratimair āyasair bahubhiḥ śaraiḥ ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśampāyana: Pagkaraan, sa isang kisapmata, pinabagsak niya ang kanilang mga mandirigma—sampu at dagdag pang walo—at ipinadala ang labingwalong pangunahing manlalaban sa daigdig ni Yama sa pamamagitan ng di-mabilang na palasong bakal, di-matiis na tulad ng kulog na sandata ni Indra.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the terrifying efficiency of battlefield power—likened to Indra’s vajra—while implicitly pointing to the ethical gravity of war: even when action aligns with a warrior’s duty, it results in irreversible loss and demands moral reflection.
The narrator states that a single fighter rapidly kills eighteen of the opposing side’s prominent warriors using numerous iron arrows, described as intolerable and thunderbolt-like in force.