Shloka 7
Bhīṣma’s Stuti of Keśava and Counsel on Nara–Nārāyaṇa (भीष्म-स्तवः; नरनारायण-प्रसङ्गः)
तं॑ व्यालनानाविधगूढसारं गजाश्वपादातरथौघपक्षम् । व्यूहं महामेघसमं महात्मा ददर्श दूरात् कपिराजकेतु:
sañjaya uvāca | taṁ vyāla-nānāvidha-gūḍha-sāraṁ gajāśva-pādāta-rathaugha-pakṣam | vyūhaṁ mahā-megha-samaṁ mahātmā dadarśa dūrāt kapi-rāja-ketuḥ ||
Sañjaya said: From afar, the great-souled Arjuna—whose banner bears the emblem of the lord of monkeys—beheld the Kaurava host arranged in the ‘Vyāla’ formation. It appeared manifold and deceptive, its true strength concealed; its ‘wings’ were packed with masses of elephants, horses, infantry, and charioteers. That battle-array looked like a vast bank of thunderclouds—dense, ominous, and hard to penetrate—signaling the moral gravity and peril of the war about to unfold.
संजय उवाच