Shloka 23
अध्याय १४८ — कर्णप्रभावः, धृष्टद्युम्नस्य विरथता, तथा घटोत्कच-आह्वानम्
Chapter 148: Karṇa’s Pressure, Dhṛṣṭadyumna Unhorsed, and the Summoning of Ghaṭotkaca
महास्त्रसम्प्लवे तस्मिन् जिष्णुना सम्प्रवर्तिते । सुदुस्तरे महाघोरे ममज्जुर्यो धपुड़रवा:,प्रलीनमीनमकरं सागराम्भ इवाभवत् | संजय कहते हैं--राजन्! उस समय अर्जुनके द्वारा खींचे जानेवाले गाण्डीव धनुषकी अत्यन्त भयंकर टंकार यमराजकी सुस्पष्ट गर्जना तथा इन्द्रके वज्रकी गड़गड़ाहटके समान जान पड़ती थी। उसे सुनकर आपकी सेना भयसे उद्विग्न हो बड़ी घबराहटमें पड़ गयी। उस समय उसकी दशा प्रलयकालकी आँधीसे क्षोभको प्राप्त एवं उत्ताल तरंगोंसे परिपूर्ण हुए उस महासागरके जलकी-सी हो गयी, जिसमें मछली और मगर आदि जलजन्तु छिप जाते हैं उस युद्धस्थलमें अर्जुनने बड़े-बड़े अस्त्रोंकी ऐसी बाढ़ ला दी थी, जो परम दुस्तर और अत्यन्त भयंकर थी। उसमें कौरवदलके बहुसंख्यक श्रेष्ठ योद्धा डूब गये
mahāstrasamplave tasmin jiṣṇunā sampravartite | sudustare mahāghore mamajjur yodhapuṅgavāḥ, pralīnamīnamakaraṃ sāgarāmbha ivābhavat ||
Sañjaya said: O King, when that deluge of mighty weapons was set in motion by Jiṣṇu (Arjuna)—a crossing most difficult and exceedingly dreadful—your foremost warriors began to sink in it. The battlefield became like the waters of the ocean in turmoil, where fish and crocodiles hide away, overwhelmed by the storm of destruction. Thus, by Arjuna’s onrush of great astras, many eminent Kaurava fighters were swallowed up, shaken by fear and confusion, as if in a time of cosmic dissolution.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how unchecked violence in war becomes an overwhelming ‘flood’ that engulfs even the strongest, highlighting the moral weight of martial power: divine weapons magnify consequences, and fear and collapse follow when adharma-driven forces face a superior, resolute counterforce.
Sañjaya describes Arjuna unleashing a terrifying barrage of astras. The Kaurava champions, unable to withstand it, are depicted as sinking in a dreadful, hard-to-cross flood—like sea-creatures disappearing in a storm-tossed ocean—conveying the Kaurava army’s panic and devastation.