Shloka 38
शल्य–युधिष्ठिरयुद्धप्रारम्भः
Commencement of the Śalya–Yudhiṣṭhira Duel
तेषां बाणसहस्रौधैराकीर्णा वसुधाभवत् । अन्तरिक्षं च सहसा बाणभूतम भूत्तदा,उस समय उनके सहस्रों बाणसमूहोंसे रणभूमि आच्छादित हो गयी और आकाश भी सहसा बाणमय प्रतीत होने लगा
teṣāṃ bāṇa-sahasra-oghair ākīrṇā vasudhābhavat | antarikṣaṃ ca sahasā bāṇa-bhūtam abhūt tadā ||
Sañjaya sprach: So dicht waren die Ströme ihrer tausendfachen Pfeile, dass die Erde davon überdeckt wurde; und auch der Himmel schien plötzlich ganz zu Pfeilen geworden zu sein.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse primarily offers vivid battlefield description, but it also implicitly warns how war, when driven by unchecked rage and rivalry, can overwhelm discernment—turning the world itself into an instrument of harm and obscuring the ethical aim (dharma) that is supposed to govern kṣatriya action.
Sañjaya reports that opposing warriors are releasing such immense volleys of arrows that the ground is blanketed with them and the sky appears filled with arrows, conveying the intensity and near-total saturation of missile warfare at that moment.