Shloka 52
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Discourse and the Elephant-Corps Engagement (भीमगजानीक-सम्भ्रान्ति)
छिन्नदन्ताग्रहस्ताश्न भिन्नकुम्भास्तथा परे । वियोधा: स्वान्यनीकानि जघ्नुर्भारत वारणा:
chinnadantāgrahastāś ca bhinnakumbhās tathā pare | viyodhāḥ svāny anīkāni jaghnur bhārata vāraṇāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Some elephants had the tips of their tusks and their trunks severed, and others had their temples split; yet, maddened and beyond control, they turned upon their own formations and trampled and slew them, O Bhārata.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war unleashes uncontrolled violence: even powerful assets like war-elephants, once wounded and maddened, can turn against their own side. It serves as a moral reminder that adharma-driven conflict breeds indiscriminate destruction.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield where elephants, grievously injured (tusks and trunks cut, temples split), become frenzied and, losing direction and discipline, attack and kill within their own ranks and formations.