सैन्यक्षयकरं चैव प्राणानां संशयाय च ॥
चक्रे तस्य हि साहाय्यं भगवान् हव्यवाहनः ॥
ततो हया रथा नागाः पुरुषाः कवचानि च ॥
प्रदीप्तानि व्यदृश्यन्त सहदेवबले तदा ॥
ततः सुसंभ्रान्तमना बभूव कुरुनन्दनः ॥
नोत्तरं प्रतिवक्तुं च शक्तो ऽभूज् जनमेजय ॥
sainyakṣayakaraṃ caiva prāṇānāṃ saṃśayāya ca ||
cakre tasya hi sāhāyyaṃ bhagavān havyavāhanaḥ ||
tato hayā rathā nāgāḥ puruṣāḥ kavacāni ca ||
pradīptāni vyadṛśyanta sahadevabale tadā ||
tataḥ susaṃbhrāntamanā babhūva kurunandanaḥ ||
nottaraṃ prativaktuṃ ca śakto 'bhūj janamejaya ||
— destroying the army and imperiling lives, for the Lord Havyavahana [Agni] himself gave help to him [Nila]. Then horses, chariots, elephants, men, and armor appeared blazing in Sahadeva’s army. And the descendant of Kuru fell into great confusion of mind, unable to find any reply to this, O Janamejaya.
5a37f70cf37b · publicado 16 jul 2026, 15:28:51 UTC
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Here valor recoils for the first time: before the fire that engulfs the whole army, Sahadeva is ‘in confusion of mind’ and ‘finds no reply.’ It is significant how helpless weapons become where a deity opposes: neither courage nor army avail against an element moved by the will of a god. The verse teaches the boundary of the human: there is a threshold before which every skill falls mute, and the strongest becomes as helpless as a child. This confusion is not disgrace but the dawning of true measure; and it is a necessary threshold beyond which the warrior turns from strength to prayer.