बद्धगोधाङ्गुलित्राणान् सशरावरकार्मुकान् ॥
सासिचर्माङ्कुशाभीशून् सतोमरपरश्वधान् ॥
सगुडायोमुखप्रासान् सर्ष्टितोमरपट्टिशान् ॥
सभिण्डिपालपरिघान् सशक्तिवरकम्पनान् ॥
सप्रतोदमहाशङ्खान् सकुन्तान् सकचग्रहान् ॥
समुद्गरक्षेपणीयान् सपाशपरिघोपलान् ॥
सकेयूराङ्गदान् बाहून् हृद्यगन्धानुलेपनान् ॥
संचिच्छेदार्जुनिर् वृत्तांस् त्वदीयानां सहस्रशः ॥
baddhagodhāṅgulitrāṇān saśarāvarakārmukān ||
sāsicarmāṅkuśābhīśūn satomaraparaśvadhān ||
saguḍāyomukhaprāsān sarṣṭitomarapaṭṭiśān ||
sabhiṇḍipālaparighān saśaktivarakampanān ||
sapratodamahāśaṅkhān sakuntān sakacagrahān ||
samudgarakṣepaṇīyān sapāśaparighopalān ||
sakeyūrāṅgadān bāhūn hṛdyagandhānulepanān ||
saṃcicchedārjunir vṛttāṃs tvadīyānāṃ sahasraśaḥ ||
Arms — with finger-guards and bracers put on, with arrows, shields, and bows, with swords, shields, goads, and reins, with javelins and axes, with iron-tipped prasas, with blades, tomaras, and pattishas, with bhindipalas and parighas, with shakti-spears and javelins, with whips and conches, with pikes, [still] clutching hair, with hammers and missiles, with lassos, clubs, and stones — sturdy arms in armlets and bracelets, anointed with fragrances — the son of Arjuna cut off from your men by the thousands.
8b6da51acdcd · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:22:09 PM UTC
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The long enumeration of severed arms, still clutching every kind of weapon, is an image of countless actions interrupted — thousands of efforts cut off at their very height. Especially grievous is the arm 'clutching the hair of a foe': even in its dying moment it did not release its grip. And these arms are 'in armlets, anointed with fragrances' — adorned for life, they are severed in death. The verse teaches that war cuts short the effort of the living in the very act of its accomplishment — the arm falls before finishing its blow; that ornaments and fragrances, tokens of peaceful ease, are futile on the field of death; and that the tradition, dwelling on these severed arms still holding their weapons and adornments, reveals the utter mercilessness and suddenness of death overtaking a man in the midst of action and life.