शलभैर् इव चाकाशे धाराभिर् इव चावृते ॥
अभिमन्योः शरै राजन् न प्राज्ञायत किं चन ॥
तावकानां तु योधानां वध्यतां निशितैः शरैः ॥
अन्यत्र सैन्धवाद् राजन् न स्म कश् चिद् अतिष्ठत ॥
सौभद्रस् तु ततः शङ्खं प्रध्माप्य पुरुषर्षभः ॥
शीघ्रम् अभ्यपतत् सेनां भारतीं भरतर्षभ ॥
śalabhair iva cākāśe dhārābhir iva cāvṛte ||
abhimanyoḥ śarai rājan na prājñāyata kiṃ cana ||
tāvakānāṃ tu yodhānāṃ vadhyatāṃ niśitaiḥ śaraiḥ ||
anyatra saindhavād rājan na sma kaś cid atiṣṭhata ||
saubhadras tu tataḥ śaṅkhaṃ pradhmāpya puruṣarṣabhaḥ ||
śīghram abhyapatat senāṃ bhāratīṃ bharatarṣabha ||
When [the sky] was covered with Abhimanyu's arrows as with swarms of locusts in the air, as with streams of rain, O king, nothing could be discerned at all. Of your warriors, struck down by sharp arrows, not a single one stood firm except the man of Sindhu [Jayadratha], O king. Then the son of Subhadra, bull among men, having sounded his conch, swiftly fell upon the host of the Bharatas, O bull among the Bharatas.
c8ad3ee4c188 · publicado 19 jul 2026, 15:22:09 UTC
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Of the whole army, only Jayadratha 'stood firm' -- and this apparent valor is in fact the pledge of coming disaster: tomorrow it is he who will close the trap. Thus the tale subtly marks out the one destined to be fatal. And the boy's arrows, blotting out the sky 'like locusts and rain,' reveal his unassailable power. It is telling that the one who stood firm is not the best but the one fated to play the dark part. The verse teaches that not every steadfastness is for good, and one who stands firm where all others fled may be not more valiant but more dangerous than the rest; that the tale notes, amid the general rout, the single man on whom tragedy will hinge; and that Jayadratha's seeming firmness is no praise of him but a grim foretoken, for he holds his ground only in order later to destroy the boy.