कृतास्त्रा रणदीक्षाभिर् दीक्षिताः शरधारिणः ॥
रणे जयं प्रार्थयन्तो भृशं युयुधिरे तदा ॥
असिमार्गान् बहुविधान् विचेरुस् तावका रणे ॥
ऋष्टिभिः शक्तिभिः प्रासैः शूलतोमरपट्टिशैः ॥
गदाभिः परिघैश् चान्ये व्यायुधाश् च भुजैर् अपि ॥
अन्योन्यं जघ्निरे क्रुद्धा युद्धरङ्गगता नराः ॥
kṛtāstrā raṇadīkṣābhir dīkṣitāḥ śaradhāriṇaḥ ||
raṇe jayaṃ prārthayanto bhṛśaṃ yuyudhire tadā ||
asimārgān bahuvidhān vicerus tāvakā raṇe ||
ṛṣṭibhiḥ śaktibhiḥ prāsaiḥ śūlatomarapaṭṭiśaiḥ ||
gadābhiḥ parighaiś cānye vyāyudhāś ca bhujair api ||
anyonyaṃ jaghnire kruddhā yuddharaṅgagatā narāḥ ||
Skilled in weapons, consecrated by the vows of battle, bearing arrows, seeking victory in battle, they fought fiercely then. Your [warriors] moved through many-fold techniques of the sword in battle -- with swords, shaktis, prasas, shulas, tomaras, pattishas; others with maces and clubs, and the unarmed -- even with bare hands -- struck one another, enraged, the men who had come onto the arena of battle.
36c13f44f943 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:52:56 PM UTC
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'Raṇadīkṣābhiḥ dīkṣitāḥ,' 'consecrated by the vows of battle': the fight is understood as a sacred initiation, a dīkṣā, where life itself is the offering. And when weapons run out, they fight 'bhujaiḥ api,' even with bare hands. It is significant that war is raised to the rite of sacrifice (raṇa-yajña). The verse teaches the Vedic vision of battle as sacrifice: the warrior is one consecrated, giving himself; and though the sides differ in righteousness, the self-surrender of the fighter to the very end, to bare hands, is itself a kind of offering -- terrible, yet not without meaning in the eyes of dharma.