यथोदयन् वै गगने सूर्यो हन्ति महत् तमः ॥
तथार्जुनो गजानीकम् अवधीत् कङ्कपत्रिभिः ॥
हस्तिभिः पतितैर् भिन्नैस् तव सैन्यम् अदृश्यत ॥
अन्तकाले यथा भूमिर् विनिकीर्णैर् महीधरैः ॥
यथा मध्यंदिने सूर्यो दुष्प्रेक्ष्यः प्राणिभिः सदा ॥
तथा धनंजयः क्रुद्धो दुष्प्रेक्ष्यो युधि शत्रुभिः ॥
yathodayan vai gagane sūryo hanti mahat tamaḥ ||
tathārjuno gajānīkam avadhīt kaṅkapatribhiḥ ||
hastibhiḥ patitair bhinnais tava sainyam adṛśyata ||
antakāle yathā bhūmir vinikīrṇair mahīdharaiḥ ||
yathā madhyaṃdine sūryo duṣprekṣyaḥ prāṇibhiḥ sadā ||
tathā dhanaṃjayaḥ kruddho duṣprekṣyo yudhi śatrubhiḥ ||
As the sun, rising in the sky, destroys the great darkness, so Arjuna slew the array of elephants with feathered arrows. With fallen, cloven elephants your army appeared like the earth at the end [of the world], strewn with scattered mountains. As the midday sun is ever hard for beings to look upon, so the wrathful Dhananjaya was hard for the enemy to look upon in battle.
3d5041715107 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:45:02 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Arjuna is twice likened to the sun: to the rising sun that "hanti mahat tamaḥ", destroys the darkness, and to the noonday sun, "duṣprekṣyaḥ", unbearable to the sight. The image of light driving out darkness is the very essence of his deed: he dispels the darkness of iniquity. It is telling that the enemy cannot even look at him, as one cannot look at the noonday sun. The verse teaches that righteous retribution is like light: it does not merely strike but banishes darkness, as the sun banishes night; and the wicked cannot even gaze upon the one who fulfills God's will, as a mortal cannot gaze upon the noonday sun.