तेषाम् आपततां वीरः पूर्वं शीघ्रम् अथो दृढम् ॥
क्षिप्रास्त्रो न्यवधीद् व्रातान् मर्मज्ञो मर्मभेदिभिः ॥
ते हन्यमानाश् च तथा नानालिङ्गैः शितैः शरैः ॥
अभिपेतुस् तम् एवाजौ शलभा इव पावकम् ॥
ततस् तेषां शरीरैश् च शरीरावयवैश् च सः ॥
संतस्तार क्षितिं क्षिप्रं कुशैर् वेदिम् इवाध्वरे ॥
teṣām āpatatāṃ vīraḥ pūrvaṃ śīghram atho dṛḍham ||
kṣiprāstro nyavadhīd vrātān marmajño marmabhedibhiḥ ||
te hanyamānāś ca tathā nānāliṅgaiḥ śitaiḥ śaraiḥ ||
abhipetus tam evājau śalabhā iva pāvakam ||
tatas teṣāṃ śarīraiś ca śarīrāvayavaiś ca saḥ ||
saṃtastāra kṣitiṃ kṣipraṃ kuśair vedim ivādhvare ||
Of those who had descended upon him, that warrior — first, swiftly and firmly, a quick archer, a knower of vital points — struck down the hosts with [arrows] to the vital points. And they, though struck thus with sharp arrows of various kinds, still rushed on upon him in the fight, just like moths upon fire. Then, with their bodies and parts of bodies, he soon strewed the earth, just like a sacrificial platform with kusha grass at a rite.
cc1609a552bc · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:22:09 PM UTC
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The enemies rush at the youth 'like moths upon fire' — they perish but do not retreat: the blind multitude flings itself at the flame, consuming itself. And the field, strewn with bodies, is likened to an altar strewn with sacred kusha grass: the slaughter is likened to a sacrifice. Thus it is shown that battle is a kind of solemn rite in which lives are offered. It is telling that Abhimanyu, himself the 'moth to the fire' by his own earlier word, has now himself become that fire for his enemies. The verse teaches that the blind multitude, flinging itself at one formidable foe, perishes like moths in a flame; that the tradition sees in the field of battle an altar, and in the fallen a sacrifice, lending the slaughter the strict sense of a rite; and that the roles of slayer and doomed are reversible — the recent 'moth' Abhimanyu has become the flame in which others burn, though his own hour, too, draws near.