Shloka 87
अध्याय १४८ — कर्णप्रभावः, धृष्टद्युम्नस्य विरथता, तथा घटोत्कच-आह्वानम्
Chapter 148: Karṇa’s Pressure, Dhṛṣṭadyumna Unhorsed, and the Summoning of Ghaṭotkaca
तस्मिन् महाभीषणके प्रजानामिव संक्षये । रणे महति दुष्पारे वर्तमाने सुदारुणे,आनाभि निरमज्जंक्ष रथचक्राणि शोणिते । समस्त प्राणियोंके प्रॉलयकालके समान जब वह महाभीषण अत्यन्त दारुण महान् एवं दुर्लड़घ्य संग्राम चल रहा था, उस समय रक्तकी वर्षासे और वायुके वेगपूर्वक चलनेसे रुधिरसे भीगे हुए धरातलकी धूल शान्त हो गयी। रथके पहिये नाभितक खूनमें डूबे हुए थे
tasmin mahābhīṣaṇake prajānām iva saṅkṣaye | raṇe mahati duṣpāre vartamāne sudāruṇe, ānābhi niramajjaṃkṣa rathacakrāṇi śoṇite |
Sañjaya said: In that exceedingly dreadful and most cruel battle—hard to cross, like the destruction of all creatures at the end of an age—the wheels of the chariots sank into blood up to their hubs. The field itself seemed overwhelmed by slaughter, as though the world’s order had been eclipsed by the violence of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses pralaya-like imagery to show how war can overwhelm moral order: when violence becomes total, ordinary measures of right conduct are obscured, warning that adharma-driven conflict leads to collective ruin.
Sañjaya describes the battle as extraordinarily fierce and nearly unsurvivable; the slaughter is so great that chariot wheels sink into blood up to their hubs, conveying the scale of carnage on the field.