ततस् ते वाजिनो हृष्टाः सुपुष्टा वातरंहसः ॥
अजय्या जैत्रम् ऊहुस् तं विकुर्वन्तः स्म सैन्धवाः ॥
अथ हर्षपरीताङ्गः सात्यकिर् भीमम् अब्रवीत् ॥
त्वं भीम रक्ष राजानम् एतत् कार्यतमं हि ते ॥
अहं भित्त्वा प्रवेक्ष्यामि कालपक्वम् इदं बलम् ॥
आयत्यां च तदात्वे च श्रेयो राज्ञो ऽभिरक्षणम् ॥
tatas te vājino hṛṣṭāḥ supuṣṭā vātaraṃhasaḥ ||
ajayyā jaitram ūhus taṃ vikurvantaḥ sma saindhavāḥ ||
atha harṣaparītāṅgaḥ sātyakir bhīmam abravīt ||
tvaṃ bhīma rakṣa rājānam etat kāryatamaṃ hi te ||
ahaṃ bhittvā pravekṣyāmi kālapakvam idaṃ balam ||
āyatyāṃ ca tadātve ca śreyo rājño 'bhirakṣaṇam ||
Then those horses, joyful, well-fed, equal to the wind in speed, unconquerable, bore him toward victory, the Sindhu steeds frolicking. Then, his limbs seized with joy, Satyaki said to Bhima: “You, Bhima, guard the king — this indeed is your foremost task. I, having broken through, shall enter this army, ripened by time for destruction. Both in the future and in the present, the good is the guarding of the king.”
365dce0d5923 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:02:23 PM UTC
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The enemy army is called ‘ripened by time,’ ripe for destruction at the hand of fate: it only imagines itself fearsome, while in truth it is already given over to doom. Satyaki, for his part, remembers: the guarding of the king is the highest good. It is telling that even in the hour of his own exploit he thinks first of the safety of the one most dear. The verse teaches that true valor never forgets what matters most: going forth into the hardest task, the faithful one first secures the safety of the one dearest to him, placing the protection of another above his own glory.