Ramayana — Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 52, Shloka 24
धूम्राक्षवधः
The Slaying of Dhumrākṣa
धनुर्ज्यातन्त्रिमधुरंहिक्कातालसमन्वितम् ।मन्धस्न्तितसङ्गीतंतद्युद्धगान्धर्वमाबभौ ।।6.52.24।।
dhanurjyātantrimadhuraṃ hikkātālasamanvitam | mandahastitasaṅgītaṃ tad yuddhagāndharvam ābabhau ||6.52.24||
The battle sounded like a gāndharva performance: sweet with the bowstring’s twang as with a lute, accompanied by the horses’ cries as though by cymbals, and with elephant-trumpeting as its deep music.
It seemed like music in the form of twang of bow strings, neighing of horses like the sound of wooden cymbals, vocal music in the form of trumpeting of elephants, that battle seemed like symphony.
FAQs
Even amid violence, the poet’s vision imposes order and meaning; dharma is aligned with harmony and intelligibility, resisting the reduction of war to mere chaos.
Aesthetic narration pauses the action to describe the battlefield’s sounds as if they formed a musical ensemble.
Not a single character trait, but the epic’s reflective wisdom: the capacity to perceive pattern and moral gravity even in upheaval.