Shloka 20

Devanagari script

नैतादृशं समुद्योगं दृष्टवन्तो हि मानुषा: । ऋषयो वा महाभागा: पुराणा भुवि संजय,संजय! इस भूतलपर इतनी बड़ी सेनाका जमाव मनुष्योंने कभी नहीं देखा होगा अथवा प्राचीन महाभाग ऋषियोंने भी नहीं देखा होगा

Transliteration

naitādṛśaṁ samudyogaṁ dṛṣṭavanto hi mānuṣāḥ | ṛṣayo vā mahābhāgāḥ purāṇā bhuvi sañjaya |

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „Nie zuvor haben Menschen eine so gewaltige Kriegsmobilmachung gesehen. Auch die alten, hochbegnadeten Seher auf dieser Erde, o Sañjaya, haben keine Versammlung von Streitkräften wie diese erblickt.“

Word by Word

नnot

एतादृशम्such (of this kind)

समुद्योगम्great mobilization/assembly (of forces), enterprise

दृष्टवन्तःhaving seen / saw

हिindeed, for

मानुषाःhumans, men

ऋषयःsages

वाor

महाभागाःgreatly fortunate, illustrious

पुराणाःancient, of old

भुविon earth

संजयO Sanjaya

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Ṛ

ṛṣayaḥ (ancient sages)

bhūmi/bhuvi (the earth)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the unprecedented magnitude of collective human action when driven by conflict, hinting at the ethical gravity of war: when society mobilizes on such a scale, the consequences exceed ordinary experience and demand heightened moral discernment about dharma and responsibility.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, reporting events to the blind king, emphasizes that the gathering and readiness of the armies is unlike anything seen by humans—or even remembered by ancient sages—thereby heightening the sense of impending catastrophe and the extraordinary nature of the Kurukṣetra war.