Санджая
ससूताश्वध्वजं तस्य स्यन्दनं तं च मारिष ॥
आचितं समपश्याम श्वाविधं शललैर् इव ॥
स गाढविद्धः क्रुद्धश् च तोत्त्रैर् गज इवार्दितः ॥
गान्धर्वम् अस्त्रम् आयच्छद् रथमायां च योजयत् ॥
अर्जुनेन तपस् तप्त्वा गन्धर्वेभ्यो यद् आहृतम् ॥
तुम्बुरुप्रमुखेभ्यो वै तेनामोहयताहितान् ॥
sasūtāśvadhvajaṃ tasya syandanaṃ taṃ ca māriṣa ||
ācitaṃ samapaśyāma śvāvidhaṃ śalalair iva ||
sa gāḍhaviddhaḥ kruddhaś ca tottrair gaja ivārditaḥ ||
gāndharvam astram āyacchad rathamāyāṃ ca yojayat ||
arjunena tapas taptvā gandharvebhyo yad āhṛtam ||
tumburupramukhebhyo vai tenāmohayatāhitān ||
His chariot — together with the charioteer, horses, and banner, O worthy one — we saw studded with arrows, like a porcupine with its quills. Deeply pierced and enraged, like an elephant driven by goads, he employed the weapon of the gandharvas and set in motion the chariot-illusion — the one that Arjuna, through austerities, had obtained from the gandharvas headed by Tumburu; with it he confounded his foes.
691a07c1d46e · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:03 PM UTC
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The youth's chariot, "like a porcupine in quills," shows how wounded he is as he fights on — and yet he does not yield, but turns to the higher weapon inherited from his father. Thus Arjuna's legacy comes alive in the son: the gift won by the father's austerities now serves the son in his dying hour. It is significant that even in extremity the youth does not lose his skill, turning to an illusion that multiplies his form. The verse teaches that a spirit wounded to the utmost does not lay down its arms, but draws forth its last strength and highest skill; that the legacy of fathers is not blood alone but transmitted knowledge, coming alive in the descendant at the decisive moment; and that Abhimanyu, wrapped in arrows like a porcupine yet still displaying the gandharvas' illusion, embodies an unbending will for which there is no hopeless situation as long as the spirit lives.