Shloka 29

Bhagadattā’s Deployment Against Ghaṭotkaca; Elephant-Corps Escalation

Devanagari script

बह्बाशिनं ततो भीम: शरेणानतपर्वणा । प्रेषयामास संक़रुद्धो यमस्य सदन प्रति,इसके बाद क्रोधमें भरे हुए भीमसेनने झुकी हुई गाँठवाले बाणसे मारकर बह्लाशीको यमलोक भेज दिया

Transliteration

bahvāśinaṃ tato bhīmaḥ śareṇānataparvaṇā | preṣayāmāsa saṃkruddho yamasya sadanaṃ prati ||

Translation

三阇耶说道：随后，毗摩怒火炽盛，以关节弯曲之箭射中婆诃婆舍因，将他送往阎摩之所。依战场那残酷而以职责为纲的法则，此举并非出于私怨的残忍，而是战士在战争所统御的不可逃避之死律下，迅疾履行其本分。

Word by Word

बह्वाशिनम्Bahvāśin (a person named Bahvāśin), the one who eats much

ततःthen, thereafter

भीमःBhīma

शरेणwith an arrow

आनतपर्वणाhaving bent joints/knots (i.e., with a curved-jointed arrow)

प्रेषयामासsent, dispatched

सङ्क्रुद्धःenraged, wrathful

यमस्यof Yama

सदनम्abode, house

प्रतिtowards

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Bhīma (Bhīmasena)

Bahvāśin

Yama

arrow (śara)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s war-ethic: in the kṣatriya arena, death is administered swiftly as part of duty, while Yama’s abode symbolizes the impartial inevitability of mortality that awaits all combatants.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that Bhīma, in anger, shoots Bahvāśin with a distinctive arrow (described as having bent joints) and kills him—poetically expressed as sending him to Yama’s dwelling.