Shloka 48
Bhīmasena’s Kalinga Engagement and the Approach of Bhīṣma (भीमसेन-कालिङ्ग-संग्रामः)
सखा सखायं च तथा सम्बन्धी बान्धवं तथा । उन सेनाओंमें अनेकानेक भयंकर शब्द सुनायी पड़ते थे। बड़े-बड़े वीरोंका विनाश करनेवाले उस महाभयानक संग्राममें पिताने पुत्रको, पुत्रने पिताको, भानजेने मामाको, मामाने भानजेको, मित्रने मित्रको तथा सगे-सम्बन्धीने अपने सगे बान्धवजनोंको मार डाला || ४६-४७ है || एवं युयुधिरे तत्र कुरव: पाण्डवै: सह,इस प्रकार उस मर्यादाशून्य भयानक संग्राममें कौरवोंका पाण्डवोंके साथ घोर युद्ध हो रहा था। इतनेहीमें सेनापति भीष्मके पास पहुँचकर पाण्डवोंकी सारी सेना काँपने लगी
saṅjaya uvāca | sakhā sakhāyaṃ ca tathā sambandhī bāndhavaṃ tathā | evaṃ yuyudhire tatra kuravaḥ pāṇḍavaiḥ saha |
Sanjaya said: “There, friend fought friend, and kinsman fought kinsman. Thus the Kurus and the Pandavas battled one another in that dreadful, boundaryless slaughter, where the bonds of family and friendship were overwhelmed by the frenzy of war and the collapse of restraint.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical catastrophe of civil war: when dharma and restraint collapse, even the most sacred human bonds—friendship and kinship—are consumed by violence, revealing war’s power to erase moral boundaries.
Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that the Kurus and Pandavas are locked in fierce combat, so indiscriminate that friends and relatives are fighting one another on the battlefield.