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Shloka 9

Karṇa-vadha-pratyaya: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Verification of Karṇa’s Fall (कर्णवध-प्रत्ययः)

तन्नराश्वौघबहुलं मत्तनागरथाकुलम्‌

tan-narāśvaugha-bahulaṁ matta-nāga-rathākulam

Sañjaya sprach: „Es war eine dichte, wogende Masse von Männern und Pferden, gedrängt von Streitwagen und rasenden, wie berauschten Elefanten—ein überwältigender Kriegsstrom, in dem Kraft und Verwirrung zugleich anschwollen.“

तत्that (field/scene)
तत्:
Karta
TypePronoun
Rootतद्
FormNeuter, Nominative, Singular
नराश्वौघबहुलम्abounding in masses of men and horses
नराश्वौघबहुलम्:
Karta
TypeAdjective
Rootनर + अश्व + ओघ + बहुल
FormNeuter, Nominative, Singular
मत्तनागरथाकुलम्filled with chariots and intoxicated elephants
मत्तनागरथाकुलम्:
Karta
TypeAdjective
Rootमत्त + नाग + रथ + आकुल
FormNeuter, Nominative, Singular

संजय उवाच

S
Sañjaya
M
men/warriors (nara)
H
horses (aśva)
W
war-elephants (nāga)
C
chariots (ratha)

Educational Q&A

The verse is primarily descriptive rather than didactic: it highlights how war compresses living beings and instruments into a single turbulent mass, suggesting the ethical gravity of battle—where individual agency is easily swallowed by collective frenzy.

Sañjaya depicts the battlefield as packed with warriors and horses, and crowded with chariots and frenzied elephants, conveying the density, noise, and confusion of the ongoing combat in the Karṇa Parva.