वारणाव् इव संसक्तौ रङ्गमध्ये विरेजतुः ॥
तुदन्तौ विशिखैस् तीक्ष्णैर् मत्तवारणविक्रमौ ॥
प्रच्छादयन्तौ समरे शरजालैः परस्परम् ॥
रथाभ्यां नादयन्तौ च दिशः सर्वा विचेरतुः ॥
तौ रथाभ्यां महाराज मण्डलावर्तनादिषु ॥
व्यरोचेतां महात्मानौ वृत्रवज्रधराव् इव ॥
vāraṇāv iva saṃsaktau raṅgamadhye virejatuḥ ||
tudantau viśikhais tīkṣṇair mattavāraṇavikramau ||
pracchādayantau samare śarajālaiḥ parasparam ||
rathābhyāṃ nādayantau ca diśaḥ sarvā viceratuḥ ||
tau rathābhyāṃ mahārāja maṇḍalāvartanādiṣu ||
vyarocetāṃ mahātmānau vṛtravajradharāv iva ||
Like two elephants locked in combat, they shone in the midst of the arena, goring each other with sharp arrows, with the might of rutting elephants. Covering each other in battle with nets of arrows, and making all quarters resound with the din of their two chariots, they roamed the field. Those two, on their chariots, o great king, in circling maneuvers and turns, shone, great-souled as they were, like Vritra and the wielder of the thunderbolt.
0dfb4268d4f3 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:25:13 PM UTC
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The battlefield becomes an arena, the clash a spectacle, and the fighters now elephants, now Vritra and Indra: the poet fashions from carnage a fearsome pageant. It is telling that both are called "great-souled": worth is granted to each side, however far apart their causes. The verse teaches that valor is genuine on both edges of a battle; but the grandeur of skill does not cancel the fact that these circling charges lead to death, not to a tournament's glory.