तस्य प्राग्ज्योतिषो मध्ये विधिवत् कल्पितं गजम् ॥
आस्थितः शुशुभे राजन्न् अंशुमान् उदये यथा ॥
माल्यदामवता राजा श्वेतच्छत्रेण धार्यता ॥
कृत्तिकायोगयुक्तेन पौर्णमास्याम् इवेन्दुना ॥
tasya prāgjyotiṣo madhye vidhivat kalpitaṃ gajam ||
āsthitaḥ śuśubhe rājann aṃśumān udaye yathā ||
mālyadāmavatā rājā śvetacchatreṇa dhāryatā ||
kṛttikāyogayuktena paurṇamāsyām ivendunā ||
In the midst of it [the formation] the lord of Pragjyotisha, mounted upon an elephant adorned by custom, shone, O king, like the radiant sun at its rising. Wreathed in garlands and wreaths, beneath a white parasol held over him, that king [shone] like the moon on the night of the full moon, in conjunction with Krittika.
8146726e8aa8 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:00:04 PM UTC
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Bhagadatta in the midst of the array is likened now to the rising sun, now to the full moon beneath a white parasol — images of shining majesty. But in this very splendor is hidden a hint of transience: sunrise inevitably tilts toward sunset, the full moon toward its waning. It is telling that the warrior's brilliance is depicted through luminaries to which a circuit of rising and setting is measured out. The verse teaches that earthly glory, however dazzlingly it shines at its noon, is subject to the same law as the sun and moon — it rises in order to set; and that the wise man looks on another's greatness without envy, remembering that it too, for all its splendor, is but a rising star appointed its own sunset.