रक्तचन्दनदिग्धाङ्गौ शरैः कृतमहाव्रणौ ॥
शोणिताक्तौ व्यराजेतां कालसूर्याव् इवोदितौ ॥
तौ शोणितोक्षितैर् गात्रैः शरैश् छिन्नतनुच्छदौ ॥
विवर्माणौ व्यराजेतां निर्मुक्ताव् इव पन्नगौ ॥
व्याघ्राव् इव नरव्याघ्रौ दंष्ट्राभिर् इतरेतरम् ॥
शरदंष्ट्रा विधुन्वानौ ततक्षतुर् अरिंदमौ ॥
raktacandanadigdhāṅgau śaraiḥ kṛtamahāvraṇau ||
śoṇitāktau vyarājetāṃ kālasūryāv ivoditau ||
tau śoṇitokṣitair gātraiḥ śaraiś chinnatanucchadau ||
vivarmāṇau vyarājetāṃ nirmuktāv iva pannagau ||
vyāghrāv iva naravyāghrau daṃṣṭrābhir itaretaram ||
śaradaṃṣṭrā vidhunvānau tatakṣatur ariṃdamau ||
Both, their bodies as though anointed with red sandal, covered with great wounds from arrows, drenched in blood, shone like two risen suns of doom. Those two, their limbs drenched in blood, their armor cut away by arrows, armorless, shone like two snakes that had shed their skin. Like tigers, these two tigers among men, striking one another with tusks, brandishing their arrow-tusks, mangled each other, tamers of foes.
ddcc150e6167 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:25:13 PM UTC
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Blood is likened to sandal-paste, wounds to sunlight, the loss of armor to a snake's renewal in shedding its skin: horror is clothed in solemn beauty. It is telling that they are compared to "suns of doom": their radiance is a portent of death, not of life. The verse teaches that a warrior's splendor and his deadliness are inseparable; what shines like a rising sun is in fact two men streaming with blood, and behind the sumptuous image stands death close at hand.