Shloka 51
शरोर्मिणं ध्वजावर्त नागनक्रं दुरत्ययम् । पदातिमत्स्यकलिलं शड्खदुन्दुभिनि:स्वनम्,उस समय अर्जुनने उस असंख्य, अपार, दुर्लड्घ्य एवं अक्षोभ्य रण-समुद्रको सीमावर्ती तटप्रान्तके समान होकर अपने बाणोंद्वारा रोक दिया। उस रणसागरमें बाणोंकी तरंगें उठ रही थीं, फहराते हुए ध्वज भौंरोंके समान जान पड़ते थे, हाथी ग्राह थे, पैदल सैनिक मत्स्य और कीचड़के समान प्रतीत होते थे, शंखों और दुन्दुभियोंकी ध्वनि ही उस रणसिन्धुकी गम्भीर गर्जना थी, रथ ऊँची-ऊँची लहरोंके समान जान पड़ते थे, योद्धाओंकी पगड़ी और टोप कछुओंके समान थे, छत्र और पताकाएँ फेनराशि-सी प्रतीत होती थीं तथा मतवाले हाथियोंकी लाशें ऊँचे-ऊँचे शिलाखण्डोंके समान उस सैन्यसागरको व्याप्त किये हुए थीं
sañjaya uvāca | śarormiṇaṁ dhvajāvarta nāganakraṁ duratyayam | padātimatsyakalilaṁ śaṅkhadundubhiniḥsvanam ||
Sañjaya said: “That battlefield, hard to cross, was like a vast sea—its waves were arrows, its whirlpools the swirling banners, and its crocodiles the elephants. The foot-soldiers were like fish thronging in muddy waters, and the blare of conches and kettledrums became its deep, resounding roar.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses an extended ocean-simile to convey the moral and psychological weight of war: battle becomes a perilous, turbulent realm where ordinary categories dissolve. In the Mahābhārata’s dharma-yuddha frame, such imagery underscores both the inevitability of conflict once dharma collapses and the need for steadiness and discernment amid chaos.
Sañjaya narrates the scene to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, portraying the army and the fighting as a formidable ‘sea’—arrows as waves, banners as whirlpools, elephants as crocodiles, infantry as fish in muddy water, and the conch-and-drum din as the ocean’s roar—intensifying the sense of danger and scale in the ongoing battle.