तं दृष्ट्वा तु तथायान्तं शूरो राजा श्रुतायुधः ॥
अभ्यद्रवत् सुसंक्रुद्धो विधुन्वानो महद् धनुः ॥
स पार्थं त्रिभिर् आनर्छत् सप्तत्या च जनार्दनम् ॥
क्षुरप्रेण सुतीक्ष्णेन पार्थकेतुम् अताडयत् ॥
तम् अर्जुनो नवत्या तु शराणां नतपर्वणाम् ॥
आजघान भृशं क्रुद्धस् तोत्त्रैर् इव महाद्विपम् ॥
taṃ dṛṣṭvā tu tathāyāntaṃ śūro rājā śrutāyudhaḥ ||
abhyadravat susaṃkruddho vidhunvāno mahad dhanuḥ ||
sa pārthaṃ tribhir ānarchat saptatyā ca janārdanam ||
kṣurapreṇa sutīkṣṇena pārthaketum atāḍayat ||
tam arjuno navatyā tu śarāṇāṃ nataparvaṇām ||
ājaghāna bhṛśaṃ kruddhas tottrair iva mahādvipam ||
Seeing him thus advancing, the valiant king Shrutayudha, greatly enraged, charged forth, brandishing his great bow. He struck Partha with three arrows, and Janardana with seventy, and with a most sharp razor-shaft he struck Partha's banner. Him Arjuna, greatly enraged, struck with ninety smooth-jointed arrows, as one goads a great elephant.
df8e6c0876c9 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:45:02 PM UTC
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Shrutayudha appears -- a valiant king whose story will reveal an important lesson. The image "tottraiḥ iva mahādvipam", "as with goads a great elephant", is exact: Arjuna stings the foe as a mahout stings an elephant, not letting it run wild. It is telling that here too his force is measured. The verse teaches that the righteous curb unruly power as a mahout curbs an elephant -- not destroying it at once, but reining it in; and the encounter with Shrutayudha, for all his valor, leads toward a lesson on how the wrong use of a granted power destroys a man.