ततस् तद् विमुखं दृष्ट्वा तव सूनोर् महद् बलम् ॥
जामाता तव तेजस्वी विष्टम्भयिषुर् आद्रवत् ॥
सैन्धवस्य महाराज पुत्रो राजा जयद्रथः ॥
स पुत्रगृद्धिनः पार्थान् सहसैन्यान् अवारयत् ॥
उग्रधन्वा महेष्वासो दिव्यम् अस्त्रम् उदीरयन् ॥
वार्धक्षत्रिर् उपासेधत् प्रवणाद् इव कुञ्जरान् ॥
tatas tad vimukhaṃ dṛṣṭvā tava sūnor mahad balam ||
jāmātā tava tejasvī viṣṭambhayiṣur ādravat ||
saindhavasya mahārāja putro rājā jayadrathaḥ ||
sa putragṛddhinaḥ pārthān sahasainyān avārayat ||
ugradhanvā maheṣvāso divyam astram udīrayan ||
vārdhakṣatrir upāsedhat pravaṇād iva kuñjarān ||
Then, having spotted that great army of your son turned back, your splendid son-in-law, striving to hold [it] back, charged forward. The son of the Sindhu king, king Jayadratha, O great sovereign, held back the Parthas, who longed for [their] son, together with their troops. The fearsome archer, the great bowman, the son of Vriddhakshatra, setting in motion a celestial weapon, held them back, just as [one holds back] elephants from a slope.
3e567ceaad07 · publicado 19 jul 2026, 15:30:03 UTC
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Jayadratha alone holds back the entire host of the Pandavas, "like elephants from a slope": the image presents the impossible — one man barring the path of a multitude rushing down irresistibly. This is not his natural strength but a "celestial weapon," a gift, of which more is to come. It is significant that the fateful barrier is raised not by valor but by a granted boon. The verse teaches that sometimes the outcome is decided not by natural might but by something granted from outside; that one endowed with a special gift can, for a time, halt even the unstoppable; and that in this barrier of Jayadratha's there is no triumph of his own valor, but the working of another's power placed within him — a power that will prove fatal for the boy cut off on the far side.