Shloka 20
Droṇa Encircled at Night: Coalition Advance and Battlefield Omens (द्रोणपर्यावरणं रात्रियुद्धवर्णनम्)
त॑ श्रुत्वा निनदं घोरें त्रैलेक्यत्रासनं महत्
taṁ śrutvā ninadaṁ ghoreṁ trailokyatrāsanaṁ mahat
Sañjaya said: Hearing that dreadful roar—mighty enough to strike terror through the three worlds—the warriors were shaken, as the battlefield’s violence surged and fear spread with the sound itself.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how violence and aggression in war generate fear that spreads beyond individuals, symbolically shaking the entire moral and cosmic order; it cautions that actions in battle have consequences that reverberate widely.
Sanjaya describes a terrifying, immense roar arising on the battlefield—so intense it is poetically said to frighten the three worlds—signaling a climactic escalation in the fighting.