Shloka 34
अध्याय १४८ — कर्णप्रभावः, धृष्टद्युम्नस्य विरथता, तथा घटोत्कच-आह्वानम्
Chapter 148: Karṇa’s Pressure, Dhṛṣṭadyumna Unhorsed, and the Summoning of Ghaṭotkaca
रथोडुपशताकीर्णा हयसंघातरोधसम् | रथचक्रयुगेषाक्षकूबरैरतिदुर्गमाम्
rathoḍupaśatākīrṇā haya-saṅghāta-rodhasam | ratha-cakra-yugeṣākṣa-kūbarair ati-durgamām
Sañjaya said: The field was choked with countless chariots—like boats crowding a waterway—and its passages were blocked by dense masses of horses. With chariot-wheels, yokes, axles, and poles strewn and jammed together, it had become exceedingly hard to traverse—an image of war’s chaos, where human intent and dharma are tested amid crushing congestion and confusion.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral and practical reality of war: once violence escalates, order collapses into congestion and confusion, making right action (dharma) harder to discern and execute. It implicitly cautions that the machinery of conflict can overwhelm human control and intention.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield has become jammed with chariots and masses of horses; broken or entangled chariot parts—wheels, yokes, axles, and poles—have made movement extremely difficult.