Shloka 14
अग्रतस्तस्य गच्छन्ति मांसहेतोर्भयानका: । प्रजानाथ! कंक, गृध्र, बक, बाज और कौए आदि भयानक पक्षी मांसके लिये उनके आगे-आगे जा रहे थे ।।
sañjaya uvāca | agratas tasya gacchanti māṃsahetor bhayānakāḥ | prajānātha! kaṅka-gṛdhra-baka-bāja-kākādayo bhayānakāḥ pakṣiṇaḥ māṃsāya teṣām agregre gacchanti || nimittāni ca dhanyāni pāṇḍavasya śaśaṃsire | prayāhi śīghraṃ govinda sūtaputra-jighāṃsayā ||
Sañjaya sprach: „Vor ihm zogen furchterregende Vögel her, vom Verlangen nach Fleisch getrieben—Reiher, Geier, Kraniche, Falken, Krähen und dergleichen—als ahnten sie das Gemetzel voraus. Und auch glückverheißende Zeichen verkündeten dem Pāṇḍava Heil. ‚Eile, Govinda‘, drängte Arjuna, ‚mit dem Entschluss, den Sohn des Wagenlenkers zu töten.‘“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war is framed not only as human action but as a moral-cosmic event: nature’s scavenger-birds and the language of omens signal impending slaughter, while ‘auspicious signs’ are read as legitimizing the Pāṇḍava side—raising the ethical tension between duty in battle and the grim reality of violence.
Sañjaya reports that dreadful flesh-seeking birds move ahead as if foretelling carnage. At the same time, favorable omens are said to favor the Pāṇḍava. Arjuna urges Kṛṣṇa (Govinda) to depart quickly with the intent of killing Karṇa (called ‘sūtaputra’).