Shloka 11
Arjuna’s Concentrated Archery and the Rout of the Kaurava Mahārathas
Gāṇḍīva-Nirghoṣa Episode
दिवमावृत्य शब्दस्तु निवृत्त: शुश्रुवे पुन: । सृष्टो मघवता वज्र: प्रपतन्निव पर्वते,वह शंखनाद स्वर्गलोकसे टकराकर जब पुनः लौटा, तब इस प्रकार सुनायी दिया, मानो इन्द्रका चलाया हुआ वज्र किसी पर्वतपर गिरा हो
divam āvṛtya śabdas tu nivṛttaḥ śuśruve punaḥ | sṛṣṭo maghavatā vajraḥ prapatann iva parvate ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśampāyana: Ang tunog, matapos punuin ang kalangitan, ay bumalik bilang alingawngaw at muling narinig—na wari’y ang vajra ni Indra, panginoon ng mga diyos, na inihagis at bumagsak sa isang bundok. Ipinapakita ng salaysay ang nakapanghihilakbot na lakas ng sandaling iyon: isang hudyat ng digmaan lamang ang umalingawngaw sa daigdig na parang sandatang makalangit, gumigising ng tapang at pangamba nang sabay.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how a single powerful act or signal can reverberate far beyond its immediate source, shaping collective emotion and resolve. By comparing the echoing sound to Indra’s vajra striking a mountain, it frames human conflict in a moral-psychological register: courage, fear, and duty are awakened by forces that feel larger than any individual.
A tremendous sound rises and fills the sky; then it returns as an echo and is heard again. The narrator describes this returning roar as resembling Indra’s thunderbolt crashing onto a mountain—an image used to convey overwhelming intensity and the dramatic escalation of the scene.