Mahabharata — Virata Parva, Shloka 7
Adhyāya 61: Saṃmohana-astra and the Kuru Withdrawal (संमोहनास्त्रं तथा कुरुनिवृत्तिः)
अदृष्टपूर्व: शूराणां मया संख्ये समागम: । गदापातेन महता शड्खानां निःस्वनेन च
adṛṣṭapūrvaḥ śūrāṇāṃ mayā saṅkhye samāgamaḥ | gadāpātena mahatā śaṅkhānāṃ niḥsvanena ca |
Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Nie zuvor habe ich in der Schlacht eine solche Versammlung von Helden gesehen. Der Geist wird überwältigt von den gewaltigen Schlägen der Keulen und vom schaurigen Dröhnen der Muschelhörner—ein Zeichen, dass das Feld von Tapferkeit, Entschlossenheit und dem wilden Schwung des Krieges erfüllt ist.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the overwhelming power of collective valor and martial resolve: when many heroes converge, the sensory signs of war (weapon impacts and conch-calls) become symbols of intensified kṣatriya duty and the grave momentum of conflict.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana describes witnessing an unprecedented concentration of warriors on the battlefield, emphasizing the thunderous mace-strikes and the terrifying reverberation of conches that signal the battle’s escalation.