तं सिंहम् इव संक्रुद्धं प्रमथ्नन्तं शरैर् अरीन् ॥
आराद् आयान्तम् अभ्येत्य वसातीयो ऽभ्ययाद् द्रुतम् ॥
सो ऽभिमन्युं शरैः षष्ट्या रुक्मपुङ्खैर् अवाकिरत् ॥
अब्रवीच् च न मे जीवञ् जीवतो युधि मोक्ष्यसे ॥
तम् अयस्मयवर्माणम् इषुणा आशुपातिना ॥
विव्याध हृदि सौभद्रः स पपात व्यसुः क्षितौ ॥
taṃ siṃham iva saṃkruddhaṃ pramathnantaṃ śarair arīn ||
ārād āyāntam abhyetya vasātīyo 'bhyayād drutam ||
so 'bhimanyuṃ śaraiḥ ṣaṣṭyā rukmapuṅkhair avākirat ||
abravīc ca na me jīvañ jīvato yudhi mokṣyase ||
tam ayasmayavarmāṇam iṣuṇā āśupātinā ||
vivyādha hṛdi saubhadraḥ sa papāta vyasuḥ kṣitau ||
At him, like an enraged lion crushing enemies with arrows, who was advancing from afar, the Vasati warrior, having drawn near, swiftly attacked. He covered Abhimanyu with sixty golden-feathered arrows and said: "You shall not escape me alive in battle while I live." Him, clad in iron armor, the son of Subhadra pierced in the heart with a swift-flying arrow; and he fell lifeless to the ground.
75571aafb22d · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:03 PM UTC
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The Vasati threatens "you shall not leave alive!" — and immediately falls dead himself: the boast outruns the deed and turns back upon the boaster. Thus the tradition again shows the vanity of bragging: the tongue promised death to the enemy, but death overtook the speaker himself. It is significant that iron armor did not save him from a single arrow to the heart — no armor turns aside what is destined. The verse teaches that one who threatens another with death often meets it first himself; that boasting before the deed is shameful and ruinous; and that neither armor nor strength turns aside a blow that strikes to the very heart — for before the accuracy of a true master all defense is vain, and the one who boasted of destroying another destroys himself, without having carried out the threat.