Shloka 3236
उपायैः पूर्ववधकथनम् / Strategic Justifications for Prior Eliminations
निशायां प्रत्यदृश्यन्त मेघा इव सविद्युत: । वहाँ रात्रिमें सुवर्णभपूषित हाथी और रथ बिजलीसहित मेघोंके समान दिखायी दे रहे थे
niśāyāṁ pratyadṛśyanta meghā iva savidyutaḥ |
Sañjaya sprach: In der Nacht erschienen sie wie Wolken, von Blitzen durchzuckt: goldgeschmückte Elefanten und Streitwagen glänzten in der Dunkelheit, und ihr Prunk flackerte mitten in den Schrecken des Krieges.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how outward brilliance in war—gold, power, and spectacle—can resemble lightning in storm-clouds: dazzling yet bound to danger. It implicitly cautions that martial grandeur does not remove the night-like moral and human darkness that accompanies violence.
Sañjaya describes a night scene on the battlefield where the forces, especially gold-adorned elephants and chariots, are visible in flashes and gleams, appearing like storm-clouds lit by lightning—an image that intensifies the atmosphere of nocturnal combat.