Shloka 32

Devanagari script

दृष्टवा तु पाण्डवीं सेना दह्यमानां महाहवे

Transliteration

dṛṣṭvā tu pāṇḍavīṁ senāṁ dahyamānāṁ mahāhave

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „Als er das Pāṇḍava-Heer im großen Kampf wie brennend sah, schilderte er das Bild als überwältigende Vernichtung — ein Gleichnis dafür, wie der Krieg, einmal entfesselt, selbst die gerechte Seite verzehrt und Standhaftigkeit wie Dharma im Chaos erprobt.“

Word by Word

दृष्ट्वाhaving seen

तुbut/indeed

पाण्डवींPandava (belonging to the Pandavas)

सेनाम्army

दह्यमानाम्being burned

महाहवेin the great battle

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Pāṇḍavas

Pāṇḍava army (senā)

mahāhava (the great battle of Kurukṣetra)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the indiscriminate nature of warfare: even those aligned with dharma can be engulfed by devastation. It invites reflection on the ethical cost of conflict and the fragility of human life amid kṣatriya violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the battlefield situation: the Pāṇḍava forces are seen as 'burning'—i.e., being fiercely struck down or consumed by destructive weapons/assault—in the midst of the great Kurukṣetra war.