ततः पूर्णायतोत्सृष्टैः शरैः संनतपर्वभिः ॥
न्यवारयेताम् अन्योन्यं कांस्ये निर्भिद्य वर्मणी ॥
तौ नखैर् इव शार्दूलौ दन्तैर् इव महाद्विपौ ॥
रथशक्तिभिर् अन्योन्यं विशिखैश् च ततक्षतुः ॥
संछिन्दन्तौ हि गात्राणि संदधानौ च सायकान् ॥
धक्ष्यमाणौ शरव्रातैर् नोदीक्षितुम् अशक्नुताम् ॥
तौ तु विक्षतसर्वाङ्गौ रुधिरौघपरिप्लुतौ ॥
व्यभ्राजेतां यथा वारिप्रस्रुतौ गैरिकाचलौ ॥
tataḥ pūrṇāyatotsṛṣṭaiḥ śaraiḥ saṃnataparvabhiḥ ||
nyavārayetām anyonyaṃ kāṃsye nirbhidya varmaṇī ||
tau nakhair iva śārdūlau dantair iva mahādvipau ||
rathaśaktibhir anyonyaṃ viśikhaiś ca tatakṣatuḥ ||
saṃchindantau hi gātrāṇi saṃdadhānau ca sāyakān ||
dhakṣyamāṇau śaravrātair nodīkṣitum aśaknutām ||
tau tu vikṣatasarvāṅgau rudhiraughapariplutau ||
vyabhrājetāṃ yathā vāriprasrutau gairikācalau ||
Then, with arrows loosed at full draw, smooth-jointed, they held each other in check, piercing each other's bronze armor. Both, like tigers with claws, like great elephants with tusks, cut each other with chariot-spears and with arrows. Slashing each other's limbs and fitting arrow after arrow, scorched by swarms of shafts, they could not even look at one another. Both, with every limb wounded, drenched in streams of blood, shone like ochre mountains streaming with water.
c8c2a0412395 · publicado 19 jul 2026, 16:49:34 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The bloodied fighters shine 'like ochre mountains streaming with water': blood is transfigured into the beauty of a mountain torrent. It is telling that they 'could not even look' at each other for the rain of arrows -- and yet did not retreat. The verse teaches that the grandeur of battle is interwoven with its agony: the beauty drawn from wounds does not prettify the cruelty but reveals its dual nature; and steadfastness that does not falter under a blinding downpour is the highest measure of a warrior's spirit.