Mahabharata — Virata Parva, Shloka 76
तेषां भयाभिपन्नानां सर्वेषां बलशालिनाम् । नूनं प्रकाल्य तान् सर्वास्त्वया युधि नरर्षभ । आच्चिन्नं गोधनं सर्व शार्टूलेनामिषं यथा
teṣāṃ bhayābhipannānāṃ sarveṣāṃ balaśālinām | nūnaṃ prakālya tān sarvāstvayā yudhi nararṣabha | āccinnaṃ godhanaṃ sarvaṃ śārṭūlenāmiṣaṃ yathā ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśampāyana: “Ang mga makapangyarihang lalaking iyon—lahat sila—ay sinakmal ng takot. O bantayog na lalaki sa gitna ng mga tao! Tunay nga, matapos mong durugin silang lahat sa digmaan, nabawi mo ang buong kawan ng mga baka mula sa kanilang mga kamay—gaya ng tigre na umaagaw ng karne mula sa ibang nilalang.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the kṣatriya ideal of decisive courage: protecting and recovering communal wealth (especially cattle, a key measure of prosperity) by confronting aggressors. Strength is framed as legitimate when used to restore what was wrongfully taken, and the simile of the tiger underscores swift, overwhelming prowess.
Vaiśampāyana describes how the addressed hero (praised as ‘bull among men’) has routed powerful opponents, struck them with fear, and seized back the entire herd of cattle from them—likened to a tiger snatching prey from other animals.