शरोर्मिणं ध्वजावर्तं नागनक्रं दुरत्ययम् ॥
पदातिमत्स्यकलिलं शङ्खदुन्दुभिनिस्वनम् ॥
असंख्येयम् अपारं च रजो ऽऽभीलम् अतीव च ॥
उष्णीषकमठच्छन्नं पताकाफेनमालिनम् ॥
रथसागरम् अक्षोभ्यं मातङ्गाङ्गशिलाचितम् ॥
वेलाभूतस् तदा पार्थः पत्रिभिः समवारयत् ॥
śarormiṇaṃ dhvajāvartaṃ nāganakraṃ duratyayam ||
padātimatsyakalilaṃ śaṅkhadundubhinisvanam ||
asaṃkhyeyam apāraṃ ca rajo ''bhīlam atīva ca ||
uṣṇīṣakamaṭhacchannaṃ patākāphenamālinam ||
rathasāgaram akṣobhyaṃ mātaṅgāṅgaśilācitam ||
velābhūtas tadā pārthaḥ patribhiḥ samavārayat ||
With waves of arrows, whirlpools of banners, with elephant-crocodiles, unfordable, swarming with infantry-fish, with the din of conches and kettledrums; innumerable and boundless, and exceedingly terrible with dust, covered with helmet-turtles, garlanded with banner-foam; an ocean of chariots, unshakable, strewn with rocks that were the bodies of elephants -- becoming its shore, Partha then held it back with his feathered arrows.
0d606f45b46c · publicado 19 jul 2026, 15:52:56 UTC
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An extended metaphor: the army is "rathasāgaram" -- an ocean, with waves of arrows, elephant-crocodiles, infantry-fish, foam of banners. And Arjuna is "velābhūtaḥ" -- the shore, holding back the boundless. It is telling that a single righteous man is likened to a shore holding an entire ocean. The verse teaches that the steadfastness of one righteous soul sets a limit to boundless wrong: as the shore restrains the ocean, so the firm of spirit hold back countless hosts; and it is not by numbers but by unshakable steadiness, like a shore, that the onslaught of the multitude is overcome.