शीघ्रम् अभ्यस्यतो बाणान् संदधानस्य चानिशम् ॥
नान्तरं ददृशे कश् चित् कौन्तेयस्य यशस्विनः ॥
न दिशो नान्तरिक्षं च न द्यौर् नैव च मेदिनी ॥
अदृश्यत महाराज बाणभूतम् इवाभवत् ॥
नादृश्यत तदा राजंस् तत्र किं चन संयुगे ॥
बाणान्धकारे महति कृते गाण्डीवधन्वना ॥
सूर्ये चास्तम् अनुप्राप्ते रजसा चाभिसंवृते ॥
नाज्ञायत तदा शत्रुर् न सुहृन् न च किं चन ॥
śīghram abhyasyato bāṇān saṃdadhānasya cāniśam ||
nāntaraṃ dadṛśe kaś cit kaunteyasya yaśasvinaḥ ||
na diśo nāntarikṣaṃ ca na dyaur naiva ca medinī ||
adṛśyata mahārāja bāṇabhūtam ivābhavat ||
nādṛśyata tadā rājaṃs tatra kiṃ cana saṃyuge ||
bāṇāndhakāre mahati kṛte gāṇḍīvadhanvanā ||
sūrye cāstam anuprāpte rajasā cābhisaṃvṛte ||
nājñāyata tadā śatrur na suhṛn na ca kiṃ cana ||
As he loosed his arrows swiftly and nocked them tirelessly, no one could discern the slightest gap in the glorious son of Kunti. Neither the quarters of space, nor the air, nor the sky, nor the earth itself was to be seen, O great king — the world seemed to have turned wholly into arrows. Nothing whatsoever could be seen then, O king, in that battle, in the thick darkness of arrows created by Arjuna, armed with Gandiva. And when the sun had gone down and all was veiled in dust, neither foe nor friend nor anything else could be told apart.
fc4c5657027b · publicado 19 jul 2026, 15:00:04 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Arjuna creates a 'darkness of arrows' in which neither heaven nor earth can be seen: supreme skill attains such fullness that it turns the very world into its instrument. Yet it is significant that in this darkness 'neither friend nor foe can be told apart' — war, carried to its extreme, blinds everyone without distinction, erasing all difference. The setting sun and the dust complete the darkness: the day of battle ends in darkness in every sense. The verse teaches that the utmost exertion of power can eclipse light itself; that war at its height distinguishes neither one's own nor the enemy, plunging everything into gloom; and that the sunset of the day of battle is also an image of the spiritual darkening into which enmity plunges a person.