शल्यस् तु नकुलं वीरः स्वस्रीयं प्रियम् आत्मनः ॥
विव्याध प्रहसन् बाणैर् लाडयन् कोपयन्न् इव ॥
तस्याश्वान् आतपत्रं च ध्वजं सूतम् अथो धनुः ॥
निपात्य नकुलः संख्ये शङ्खं दध्मौ प्रतापवान् ॥
धृष्टकेतुः कृपेनास्ताञ् छित्त्वा बहुविधाञ् शरान् ॥
कृपं विव्याध सप्तत्या लक्ष्म चास्याहरत् त्रिभिः ॥
तं कृपः शरवर्षेण महता समवाकिरत् ॥
निवार्य च रणे विप्रो धृष्टकेतुम् अयोधयत् ॥
śalyas tu nakulaṃ vīraḥ svasrīyaṃ priyam ātmanaḥ ||
vivyādha prahasan bāṇair lāḍayan kopayann iva ||
tasyāśvān ātapatraṃ ca dhvajaṃ sūtam atho dhanuḥ ||
nipātya nakulaḥ saṃkhye śaṅkhaṃ dadhmau pratāpavān ||
dhṛṣṭaketuḥ kṛpenāstāñ chittvā bahuvidhāñ śarān ||
kṛpaṃ vivyādha saptatyā lakṣma cāsyāharat tribhiḥ ||
taṃ kṛpaḥ śaravarṣeṇa mahatā samavākirat ||
nivārya ca raṇe vipro dhṛṣṭaketum ayodhayat ||
But Shalya, the hero, struck Nakula, his own beloved nephew, with arrows, laughing, as though he were caressing and provoking him at once. Nakula, having struck down his [Shalya's] horses, parasol, banner, charioteer, and bow in battle, mighty as he was, blew his conch. Dhrishtaketu, having cut down the manifold arrows loosed by Kripa, struck Kripa with seventy arrows and carried off his emblem with three more. Kripa then overwhelmed him with a great rain of arrows and, having checked him in battle, the brahmin fought on with Dhrishtaketu.
6b6aeffe53d1 · प्रकाशित 19 जुल॰ 2026, 3:00:03 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
A wondrous touch: Shalya strikes his beloved nephew "laughing, teasing" — kinship's tenderness has not wholly died even in battle, and the blow is clothed almost in play. Such is the tragedy of a war among kin: relatives are forced to fight, yet blood and love still make themselves known even under the arrows. The verse teaches that a war which drags kinsmen into combat cannot altogether extinguish the feeling of kinship; that even in battle love sometimes shows through, turning a blow almost into a caress; and that the whole sorrow of this war lies in this — that it is not strangers but one's own, loving and beloved, who fight, driven by fate.