Shloka 35
भीष्मस्य मध्याह्नयुद्धवर्णनम् / Mid-day Battle Description: Bhīṣma Engaged by the Pāñcālas
यथा हि पशुमध्यस्थो दारयेत पशून् वृक: । वृकोदरस्तव सुतांस्तथा व्यद्रावयद् रणे,जैसे भेड़िया पशुओंके बीचमें रहकर भी उन्हें विदीर्ण कर डालता है, उसी प्रकार भीमसेन रणभूमिमें आपके पुत्रोंको भगा रहे थे
yathā hi paśu-madhyastho dārayet paśūn vṛkaḥ | vṛkodaras tava sutāṁs tathā vyadrāvayad raṇe ||
Sañjaya said: “Just as a wolf, even while moving amid a herd, rends the animals, so did Vṛkodara (Bhīma) on the battlefield scatter your sons, driving them into flight.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in war, concentrated strength and ferocity can shatter a larger force—like a wolf among cattle—raising an ethical awareness of the terror and disproportionate suffering that violence unleashes, even among those who consider themselves protected by numbers or status.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Bhīma (Vṛkodara) is driving Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons and their side into flight on the battlefield, using a vivid comparison to a wolf tearing through a herd.