Shloka 56

कर्णार्जुनसमागमः — The Karṇa–Arjuna Confrontation

Cosmic Spectatorship and Vows

Devanagari script

धावतां च ततो राजंस्त्रस्तानां च समन्‍्तत:ः । आर्तनादो महांस्तत्र भूतानामिव सम्प्लवे

Transliteration

dhāvatāṃ ca tato rājan trastānāṃ ca samantataḥ | ārtanādo mahāṃs tatra bhūtānām iva samplave, puruṣasiṃha |

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „O König, als sie flohen und, erschreckt, nach allen Seiten auseinanderstoben, erhob sich dort ein gewaltiger Schmerzensschrei—wie das Wehklagen aller Wesen zur Zeit der kosmischen Auflösung. O Löwe unter den Menschen, der Schlund des Schlachtfeldes schien von Panik erfüllt, während die Soldaten, vom Schrecken überwältigt, schreiend davonrannten.“

Word by Word

• {'dhāvatām': 'of those running/fleeing (genitive plural present participle)', 'tataḥ': 'then

• thereafter', 'rājan': 'O king (vocative)', 'trastānām': 'of the frightened/terrified (genitive plural)', 'samantataḥ': 'on all sides

• everywhere', 'ārtanādaḥ': 'cry of distress

• lamentation', 'mahān': 'great

• immense', 'tatra': 'there', 'bhūtānām': 'of living beings

• creatures', 'iva': 'as if

• like', 'samplave': 'in a flood

• at dissolution/cataclysm (contextually: pralaya-like catastrophe)', 'puruṣasiṃha': 'O lion among men (vocative epithet)'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'rājan')
• soldiers/warriors (collective)
• pralaya/samplava (cosmic dissolution imagery)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the human cost of war: when courage collapses, even trained fighters become overwhelmed by fear, and the battlefield turns into a scene of universal suffering—evoked through the pralaya-like image. It implicitly warns that violence unleashes collective anguish beyond individual heroism.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the king that troops, terrified, are fleeing in all directions. Their cries of distress swell into a massive uproar, compared to the lamentation of all beings during a cosmic catastrophe.