Shloka 32
भीमसेनस्य गदायुद्ध-प्रभावः
The Battlefield Impact of Bhīmasena’s Mace Combat
प्रतोदानां च योक्त्राणां कशानां चैव मारिष । राशय: स्मात्र दृश्यन्ते विनिकीर्णा रणक्षितौ
sañjaya uvāca | pratodānāṃ ca yoktrāṇāṃ kaśānāṃ caiva māriṣa | rāśayaḥ smātra dṛśyante vinikīrṇā raṇakṣitau ||
Sañjaya said: “O venerable one, on that battlefield the heaps of goads, reins, and whips could be seen scattered everywhere.” The scene underscores how war reduces even the instruments of control and order to abandoned debris, revealing the collapse of ordinary discipline amid the moral and physical chaos of combat.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the dehumanizing aftermath of war: even tools meant for guidance and restraint (reins, goads, whips) lie discarded, suggesting that in violent conflict ordinary order and self-control collapse—inviting reflection on dharma and the cost of adharma.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra what he ‘sees’ on the battlefield: piles of driving and controlling implements—goads, reins, and whips—strewn across the war-ground, part of a broader visual catalogue of the field after intense fighting.