Санджая
छादयन्तौ हि शत्रुघ्नाव् अन्योन्यं सायकैः शितैः ॥
शरजालावृतं व्योम चक्राते शरवृष्टिभिः ॥
ताव् अन्योन्यं जिघांसन्तौ शरैस् तीक्ष्णैर् महारथौ ॥
प्रेक्षणीयतराव् आस्तां वृष्टिमन्ताव् इवाम्बुदौ ॥
सुवर्णविकृतान् बाणान् प्रमुञ्चन्ताव् अरिंदमौ ॥
भास्वरं व्योम चक्राते वह्न्युल्काभिर् इव प्रभो ॥
ताभ्यां मुक्ता व्यकाशन्त कङ्कबर्हिणवाससः ॥
पङ्क्त्यः शरदि मत्तानां सारसानाम् इवाम्बरे ॥
chādayantau hi śatrughnāv anyonyaṃ sāyakaiḥ śitaiḥ ||
śarajālāvṛtaṃ vyoma cakrāte śaravṛṣṭibhiḥ ||
tāv anyonyaṃ jighāṃsantau śarais tīkṣṇair mahārathau ||
prekṣaṇīyatarāv āstāṃ vṛṣṭimantāv ivāmbudau ||
suvarṇavikṛtān bāṇān pramuñcantāv ariṃdamau ||
bhāsvaraṃ vyoma cakrāte vahnyulkābhir iva prabho ||
tābhyāṃ muktā vyakāśanta kaṅkabarhiṇavāsasaḥ ||
paṅktyaḥ śaradi mattānāṃ sārasānām ivāmbare ||
For, covering each other with whetted arrows, those destroyers of foes turned the sky, covered by a net of arrows, into unbroken showers of arrows. Those two great warriors, desiring to slay each other with sharp arrows, presented a most striking sight, like two rain-laden clouds. Loosing gold-adorned arrows, those tamers of foes made the sky radiant, as if with fiery meteors, O lord. The arrows they loosed, plumed with the feathers of heron and peacock, shone like rows of cranes, intoxicated with autumn, in the sky.
51e257524db9 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:17:33 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The deadly rain of arrows is dressed in beauty — rain clouds, fiery meteors, autumn cranes: the poet does not hide the terrible loveliness of war. It is telling that this loveliness does not vindicate it: the beauty of weapons does not make righteous the cause for which they are raised. The verse teaches us to see at once both the grandeur of battle and its ruin, without letting admiration eclipse the price paid in living men for that spectacle.