Shloka 343
तमसा संवृते लोके नादृश्यन्त महाहवे । नरेश्वर! उस महासमरमें सब लोग अन्धकारसे आच्छन्न हो गये थे। पाण्डवोंकी सारी अक्षौहिणी सेना और सव्यसाची अर्जुन भी नहीं दिखायी देते थे
tamasa saṃvṛte loke nādṛśyanta mahāhave | nareśvara! asmin mahāsamare sarve janā andhakāreṇācchannā abhavan | pāṇḍavānāṃ sarvākṣauhiṇī senā ca savyasācī arjunaś ca na dṛśyete sma |
Sañjaya sprach: „O König, als die Welt von Dunkelheit umhüllt war, konnte man in jener großen Schlacht nichts mehr erkennen. In diesem gewaltigen Zusammenprall wurden alle vom Finsternisgrau bedeckt; selbst das gesamte Heer der Pāṇḍavas—eine vollständige Akṣauhiṇī—und Arjuna, berühmt als Savyasācī, waren nicht mehr zu sehen.“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how the conditions of war can obscure clarity—literally through darkness and symbolically through confusion—suggesting that when discernment is eclipsed, ethical judgment becomes harder and the battlefield turns into a realm where even the foremost heroes cannot be ‘seen’ or properly known.
Sañjaya reports to the king that a sudden darkness has covered the battlefield so completely that warriors cannot see one another; even Arjuna and the full Pāṇḍava force are not visible amid the gloom.