Shloka 10
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Discourse and the Elephant-Corps Engagement (भीमगजानीक-सम्भ्रान्ति)
न प्राजानन्त योधा: स्वान् परस्परजिघांसया । घोरमासीत् ततो युद्ध भीमस्य सहसा परै:
na prājānanta yodhāḥ svān parasparajighāṃsayā | ghoram āsīt tato yuddhaṃ bhīmasya sahasā paraiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “In their mutual urge to slay one another, the warriors no longer recognized even their own comrades. Thereupon the battle suddenly became dreadful, as Bhīma was set upon by the opposing fighters.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how unchecked rage and the single-minded desire to kill can eclipse discernment, even to the point of failing to recognize one’s own side—an ethical warning about how violence dehumanizes and dissolves moral clarity.
Sañjaya reports that the fighting has become chaotic and terrifying: warriors, driven by mutual slaughter, cannot distinguish allies from others, and in that turmoil Bhīma is suddenly assailed by opposing combatants.