Shloka 376
Vāsudeva-Māhātmya: Duryodhana’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Theological Account of Keśava
अनीकं पाण्दुपुत्राणां हाहाभूतमचेतनम् | मनुष्य, हाथी और घोड़े सभी बाणोंसे छिद गये थे। रथके ध्वज और कूबर टूटकर गिर चुके थे। इस प्रकार पाण्डवोंकी सेना अचेत-सी होकर हाहाकार कर रही थी
anīkaṃ pāṇḍuputrāṇāṃ hāhābhūtam acetanam |
Sañjaya said: The battle-array of the sons of Pāṇḍu had become a scene of frantic lamentation, as though senseless. Men, elephants, and horses were all pierced through with arrows; the chariot standards and yokes had broken and fallen. Thus the Pāṇḍava host, stunned and disordered, raised a great cry of distress—showing how the violence of war overwhelms even disciplined armies and turns order into chaos.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the human cost of war: even a well-ordered army can be reduced to confusion and lament when violence peaks. It implicitly cautions that martial glory is inseparable from suffering, and that dharma in war must reckon with the devastation inflicted on living beings.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the Pāṇḍava forces have been badly shaken: soldiers and animals are riddled with arrows, chariot parts like standards and yokes have fallen, and the formation has become disordered, crying out in distress.