कलिङ्गानां च सैन्येन कलिङ्गस्य सुतो रणे ॥
पूर्वं पितृवधात् क्रुद्धो भीमसेनम् उपाद्रवत् ॥
स भीमं पञ्चभिर् विद्ध्वा पुनर् विव्याध सप्तभिः ॥
विशोकं त्रिभिर् आजघ्ने ध्वजम् एकेन पत्रिणा ॥
कलिङ्गानां तु तं शूरं क्रुद्धं क्रुद्धो वृकोदरः ॥
रथाद् रथम् अभिद्रुत्य मुष्टिनाभिजघान ह ॥
तस्य मुष्टिहतस्याजौ पाण्डवेन बलीयसा ॥
सर्वाण्य् अस्थीनि सहसा प्रापतन् वै पृथक् पृथक् ॥
kaliṅgānāṃ ca sainyena kaliṅgasya suto raṇe ||
pūrvaṃ pitṛvadhāt kruddho bhīmasenam upādravat ||
sa bhīmaṃ pañcabhir viddhvā punar vivyādha saptabhiḥ ||
viśokaṃ tribhir ājaghne dhvajam ekena patriṇā ||
kaliṅgānāṃ tu taṃ śūraṃ kruddhaṃ kruddho vṛkodaraḥ ||
rathād ratham abhidrutya muṣṭinābhijaghāna ha ||
tasya muṣṭihatasyājau pāṇḍavena balīyasā ||
sarvāṇy asthīni sahasā prāpatan vai pṛthak pṛthak ||
And with the army of the Kalingas, the son of Kalinga, in battle, enraged by the earlier slaying of his father, rushed at Bhimasena. Having pierced Bhima with five arrows, he pierced him again with seven, struck Vishoka the charioteer with three, and the banner with one feathered arrow. That same hero of the Kalingas, enraged, the enraged Vrikodara, leaping from chariot to chariot, struck with his fist. Under him, struck by the fist in battle by the stronger Pandava, all his bones scattered apart at once.
9ad7a853a64c · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:31:38 PM UTC
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Bhima kills with his bare fist — all the bones of his foe scatter apart: his strength exceeds any weapon. It is telling that the man of Kalinga was avenging a father slain before: the circle of vengeance runs from generation to generation. The verse teaches that ancestral enmity does not die out but passes to sons; and a strength so terrible that it crushes without a weapon is an image of boundless power, turned, alas, to continue that very circle of blood.