Chapter 23: Śakuni Reports, Kaurava Advance, and Arjuna’s Penetration of the Host
तावकानां परेषां च परस्परवधैषिणाम् | फिर तो परस्पर वधकी इच्छावाले आपके और शत्रुपक्षके सैनिकोंमें प्राणोंका मोह छोड़कर भयंकर युद्ध होने लगा
tāvakānāṁ pareṣāṁ ca parasparavadheṣiṇām |
Sañjaya sprach: Unter deinen Kriegern und denen der Gegenseite—jeder auf des anderen Vernichtung aus—schwand die Bindung an das Leben, und ein schreckliches gegenseitiges Schlachten begann.
संजय उवाच
The verse highlights how, once combatants become fixed on mutual destruction, fear of death and attachment to life can be eclipsed by rage, duty, or fatal resolve—raising an ethical warning about the dehumanizing momentum of war.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that both armies—Kauravas and their opponents—are locked in a fierce engagement, each seeking the other’s death, and the battle turns terrifyingly intense.