Shloka 13
भीष्मस्य दुर्योधनं प्रति उपालम्भः
Bhīṣma’s Reproof to Duryodhana
गजानीकं च सम्प्रेक्ष् मेघवृन्दमिवोदितम्
gajānikaṃ ca samprekṣya meghavṛndam ivoditam
Sañjaya said: “Beholding the massed elephant-corps, it rose up like a newly gathered bank of clouds—an ominous, swelling sight in the field of war, where power and pride assemble before the test of dharma.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how martial might can appear vast and overwhelming, yet it is ultimately only a spectacle within the larger moral trial of war; outward power (the elephant host) does not by itself determine righteousness (dharma) or rightful outcome.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield scene to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, comparing the assembled elephant division to a rising mass of clouds, conveying the scale, density, and foreboding grandeur of the forces as the conflict intensifies.