Shloka 25
द्रोण-पार्थ-युद्धम्
Droṇa–Pārtha Strategic Engagement
अमानुषाणां भूतानां तेषां च ध्वजवासिनाम् । ऊर्ध्व॑ पुच्छान् विधुन्चाना रेभभाणा: समन्तत: । गाव: प्रतिन्यवर्तन्त दिशमास्थाय दक्षिणाम्
amānuṣāṇāṃ bhūtānāṃ teṣāṃ ca dhvajavāsinām | ūrdhva-pucchān vidhunvānā rebhabhāṇāḥ samantataḥ | gāvaḥ pratinyavartanta diśam āsthāya dakṣiṇām ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Erschreckt von jenen unheimlichen, nichtmenschlichen Wesen und von den Geistern, die auf den Bannern zu wohnen schienen, hoben die Rinder die Schwänze hoch, schüttelten sie, brüllten ringsum laut und kehrten um, nach Süden ausweichend.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how fear and ominous signs can disrupt order: even animals react instinctively to perceived inauspicious forces. In epic ethics, such portents often warn leaders to act with vigilance, restraint, and discernment rather than rashness.
As strange, non-human presences are perceived around the army’s banners, the cattle become agitated—raising and shaking their tails, bellowing, and then turning back, moving toward the south—an inauspicious directional sign within the epic’s omen-language.