Shloka 7
Bhīmasena’s Kalinga Engagement and the Approach of Bhīṣma (भीमसेन-कालिङ्ग-संग्रामः)
बहुधादारयन् क्रुद्धा विषाणैरितरेतरम् । गण्डस्थलसे मदकी धारा बहानेवाले विशालकाय गजराज कुपित हो दूसरे हाथियोंसे टक्कर लेते हुए अपने दाँतोंके आघातसे एक-दूसरेको नाना प्रकारसे विदीर्ण करने लगे ।। ६ षू “व सतोरणपताकैश्न वारणा वरवारणै:,महाराज! कितने ही हाथी तोरण और पताकाओंसहित वेगशाली महाकाय एवं श्रेष्ठ गजराजोंसे भिड़कर उनके दाँतोंके आघातसे अत्यन्त पीड़ित हो आतुर भावसे चिग्घाड़ रहे थे
bahudhā dārayann kruddhā viṣāṇair itaretaram | gaṇḍasthaleṣu madakī dhārā bahanti iva vāraṇāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Enraged, the elephants tore into one another in many ways with their tusks. From their temples the streams of must flowed, as those mighty beasts crashed together in the fury of battle—an image of war’s blind momentum, where strength and pride, ungoverned by restraint, become instruments of mutual ruin.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how uncontrolled anger and pride magnify destruction in war: even the strongest beings, when driven by rage, become agents of mutual harm. It implicitly contrasts disciplined force (guided by dharma) with blind violence (driven by krodha).
Sañjaya describes a battlefield scene where elephants, in rut and enraged, collide and gore one another with their tusks; must flows from their temples as they rend each other amid the chaos of combat.