Shloka 28
अध्याय १४८ — कर्णप्रभावः, धृष्टद्युम्नस्य विरथता, तथा घटोत्कच-आह्वानम्
Chapter 148: Karṇa’s Pressure, Dhṛṣṭadyumna Unhorsed, and the Summoning of Ghaṭotkaca
गजानां क्षुरनिर्मुक्ता: करैः: सभुजगेव भू:
gajānāṃ kṣuranirmuktāḥ karaiḥ sabhujageva bhūḥ
Sañjaya said: The earth, struck and torn by the elephants’ hands—like a serpent released from a razor’s edge—seemed to writhe in anguish amid the violence of battle, revealing how war makes even the ground itself appear to suffer.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a vivid simile to show that unchecked violence deforms the natural order: even the earth is imagined as writhing in pain. Ethically, it underscores the moral weight of war—its harm is not limited to warriors but spreads to all that sustains life.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield where elephants churn and tear up the ground with their trunks/foreparts. The earth is poetically compared to a serpent suddenly freed from a razor, conveying restless, wounded motion amid the chaos of combat.