Mahabharata 7.26.9 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 26, Shloka 9
Bhagadatta’s Advance, the Saṃśaptaka Challenge, and Arjuna’s Counterstrike (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय २६)
जैसे उदित हुए सूर्य समस्त भुवनोंमें अपनी किरणोंका विस्तार करते हैं, उसी प्रकार भीमसेन उन हाथियोंपर बाणोंकी वर्षा करते हुए शोभा पा रहे थे ।।
te bhīmabāṇābhihatāḥ saṃsyūtā vibabhur gajāḥ | gabhastibhir ivārkasya vyomni nānābalāhakāḥ ||
Sañjaya nói: Bị mũi tên của Bhīma bắn trúng, đàn voi—ép sát vào nhau—trông rực rỡ như muôn tầng mây trên trời được dệt xuyên bởi những tia nắng mặt trời.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the paradox of righteous warfare: martial excellence can appear ‘splendid’ in poetic vision, yet that beauty is born from injury and death. It invites reflection on kṣatriya-dharma—courage and duty in battle—while not concealing the grim human (and animal) cost.
Sañjaya describes Bhīma showering arrows upon enemy elephants. The elephants, clustered together and pierced by arrows, are compared to clouds in the sky threaded with sunlight—an image that conveys both the density of the elephant formation and the striking visual effect amid the battlefield.
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