स विस्फार्य महच् चापं किरन्न् इषुगणान् बहून् ॥
तत् खण्डं पूरयाम् आस यद् व्यदारयद् आर्जुनिः ॥
स सात्यकिं त्रिभिर् बाणैर् अष्टभिश् च वृकोदरम् ॥
धृष्टद्युम्नं तथा षष्ट्या विराटं दशभिः शरैः ॥
द्रुपदं पञ्चभिस् तीक्ष्णैर् दशभिश् च शिखण्डिनम् ॥
केकयान् पञ्चविंशत्या द्रौपदेयांस् त्रिभिस् त्रिभिः ॥
युधिष्ठिरं च सप्तत्या ततः शेषान् अपानुदत् ॥
इषुजालेन महता तद् अद्भुतम् इवाभवत् ॥
sa visphārya mahac cāpaṃ kirann iṣugaṇān bahūn ||
tat khaṇḍaṃ pūrayām āsa yad vyadārayad ārjuniḥ ||
sa sātyakiṃ tribhir bāṇair aṣṭabhiś ca vṛkodaram ||
dhṛṣṭadyumnaṃ tathā ṣaṣṭyā virāṭaṃ daśabhiḥ śaraiḥ ||
drupadaṃ pañcabhis tīkṣṇair daśabhiś ca śikhaṇḍinam ||
kekayān pañcaviṃśatyā draupadeyāṃs tribhis tribhiḥ ||
yudhiṣṭhiraṃ ca saptatyā tataḥ śeṣān apānudat ||
iṣujālena mahatā tad adbhutam ivābhavat ||
He, drawing his great bow, showering many clouds of arrows, closed the breach that the son of Arjuna had broken open. He struck Satyaki with three arrows, Vrikodara with eight, Dhrishtadyumna with sixty, Virata with ten arrows, Drupada with five sharp ones, Shikhandin with ten, the Kekayas with twenty-five, the sons of Draupadi with three each, Yudhishthira with seventy; then he drove off the rest with a great net of arrows — it appeared as if a wonder.
8a34a99ec26a · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:03 PM UTC
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The most terrible thing is said simply: 'he closed the breach that the son of Arjuna had broken open.' The boy's feat of piercing the impenetrable is reduced to nothing — the entrance behind him is sealed shut. In this closing of the breach lies the doom of Abhimanyu, cut off on the far side. It is telling that Jayadratha alone wounds all the leaders of the Pandavas by name — a deed truly wondrous, and thereby all the more fateful. The verse teaches that the greatest breakthrough becomes meaningless if the path closes behind it; that a single barrier, placed at the right spot, can ruin the labor of many; and that in this 'closing of the breach' lies the heart of the tragedy: what the boy won by valor is taken away by one man at the entrance, and the rescue that had been within reach slipped away, leaving the child alone among enemies.