Shloka 8
शल्यस्य पाण्डवसेनापीडनम् — Śalya’s Assault on the Pāṇḍava Host
with Omens and Bhīma’s Counter
तेषु राजन् निवृत्तेषु व्यूढानीकेषु भागश: । प्रावर्तत महारौद्र: संग्राम: शोणितोदक:
teṣu rājan nivṛtteṣu vyūḍhānīkeṣu bhāgaśaḥ | prāvartata mahāraudraḥ saṅgrāmaḥ śoṇitodakaḥ ||
قال سنجيا: أيها الملك، لما عاد أولئك الجنود وقد صُفُّوا أقسامًا وأُقيمت لكل قسمٍ تشكيلاته القتالية، اندلع بين الجيشين قتالٌ بالغ الرهبة—يسيل فيه الدم كما يسيل الماء.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical catastrophe of war: once armies are methodically organized into formations, violence becomes systematic and escalates into indiscriminate slaughter, symbolized by blood flowing like water—an implicit warning about how order and strategy can magnify destruction when dharma collapses.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that after the troops regrouped and were arranged in separate battle-formations, the fighting resumed with extreme ferocity between the two sides, turning the battlefield into a scene of massive bloodshed.