Shloka 49

Battle at Mandara — The Battle at Mandara: Vinayaka, Nandin, and Skanda Rout the Daitya Hosts

Devanagari script

ततो हतं स्वं तनयं निरीक्ष्य हस्ती तदा नन्दिनमाजगाम प्रगृह्य बाणासनमुग्रवेगं बिभेद बाणैर्यमदण्डकल्पैः

Transliteration

tato hataṃ svaṃ tanayaṃ nirīkṣya hastī tadā nandinamājagāma pragṛhya bāṇāsanamugravegaṃ bibheda bāṇairyamadaṇḍakalpaiḥ

Translation

پھر اپنے بیٹے کو ہلاک ہوا دیکھ کر ہستی نندی کے مقابلے میں آیا۔ تیز رفتار کمان اٹھا کر اس نے یم کے ڈنڈے جیسے تیروں سے نندی کو چھلنی کر دیا۔

Speakers

• Narratorial voice; the verse introduces a new combatant (Hastin) reacting to his son’s death.

Primary Deities

• Shiva
• Nandin
• Yama (as a simile/source of imagery)

Key Themes

• Vengeance motif (father avenging son)
• Escalation of battle
• Death imagery (Yama-daṇḍa)
• Heroic martial poetics

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "karuna", "secondaryRasa": "raudra", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

Is “Hastī” an elephant or a person?

Here it functions as a proper name of a Daitya warrior: he ‘sees his son slain’ and ‘comes to Nandin’ wielding a bow—actions of a person, not an animal.

What does “Yama’s staff” imply about the arrows?

It is a conventional intensifier: the arrows are portrayed as death-bearing and unavoidable, invoking Yama as the cosmic lord of death to heighten the threat to Nandin.

How does this verse fit the Andhaka-vadha arc?

It shows the ripple effect of casualties among the Daityas—each death triggers retaliatory champions—building the battlefield pressure that frames the larger destruction of Andhaka and his forces.