Shloka 5
Adhyāya 16: Saṃśaptaka-vrata and the Diversion of Arjuna (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय १६)
हयौघांश्र॒ रथौघांक्ष॒ गजौघांश्व॒ महारथ: । अपातयद्ू रणे राजन् शतशोडथ सहस्रश:,नरेश्वर! उस महारथी वीरने रणभूमिमें घोड़ों, रथों और हाथियोंके सैकड़ों-हजारों समूहोंको मार गिराया
hayaughāṁś ca rathaughāṁś ca gajaughāṁś ca mahārathaḥ | apātayad raṇe rājan śataśo 'tha sahasraśaḥ ||
নৰেশ্বৰ! সেই মহাৰথীয়ে ৰণভূমিত ঘোঁৰাৰ দল, ৰথৰ দল আৰু গজদল শতশতকৈ, আনকি সহস্ৰ সহস্ৰকৈ নিপাত কৰিলে।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the immense, impersonal scale of wartime destruction: a single elite warrior can annihilate vast formations. Ethically, it invites reflection on how martial excellence, when embedded in total war, results in mass suffering—raising tension between kṣatriya valor and the human cost of conflict.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that an unnamed great warrior (mahāratha) is felling large groups of cavalry, chariots, and elephants on the battlefield—hundreds and thousands at a time—conveying the ferocity and momentum of the ongoing combat in Droṇa Parva.