ते भीमबाणैः शतशः संस्यूता विबभुर् गजाः ॥
गभस्तिभिर् इवार्कस्य व्योम्नि नानाबलाहकाः ॥
तथा गजानां कदनं कुर्वाणम् अनिलात्मजम् ॥
क्रुद्धो दुर्योधनो ऽभ्येत्य प्रत्यविध्यच् छितैः शरैः ॥
ततः क्षणेन क्षितिपं क्षतजप्रतिमेक्षणः ॥
क्षयं निनीषुर् निशितैर् भीमो विव्याध पत्रिभिः ॥
te bhīmabāṇaiḥ śataśaḥ saṃsyūtā vibabhur gajāḥ ||
gabhastibhir ivārkasya vyomni nānābalāhakāḥ ||
tathā gajānāṃ kadanaṃ kurvāṇam anilātmajam ||
kruddho duryodhano 'bhyetya pratyavidhyac chitaiḥ śaraiḥ ||
tataḥ kṣaṇena kṣitipaṃ kṣatajapratimekṣaṇaḥ ||
kṣayaṃ ninīṣur niśitair bhīmo vivyādha patribhiḥ ||
Those elephants, pierced through by the hundreds with Bhima's arrows, presented a sight like the various banks of clouds in the sky shot through with the sun's rays. Thus, as the son of Wind was wreaking slaughter among the elephants, Duryodhana, in wrath, drew near and struck back with sharp arrows. Then, in an instant, with eyes the color of blood, intent on bringing the king to destruction, Bhima wounded him with sharp feathered arrows.
abd9605ebbce · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:11:21 PM UTC
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The wounded elephants, pierced through with arrows, are likened to clouds shot through with the sun's rays — suffering once more clothed in the beauty of a celestial image. And Bhima's blood-red eyes betray that a long-gathering, years-old hatred for Duryodhana has awakened in him. It is telling that amid the multitude of enemies Bhima immediately turns to the chief offender — an old enmity points the way to its target. The verse teaches that even in the whirlwind of general battle the heart unerringly finds the one against whom it keeps its reckoning; that a long-standing grievance, once its hour comes, flares up with particular force; and that the beauty of the images in which tradition clothes bloodshed does not cancel its essence, but reminds us: even in the furnace of vengeance the world does not lose its strange, terrible beauty.