Shloka 226
उपायैः पूर्ववधकथनम् / Strategic Justifications for Prior Eliminations
सैन्येन रजसा चैव समन्तादुत्थितेन ह । सारा जगत् अंधकारसे तथा सेनाद्वारा सब ओर उड़ायी हुई धूलसे आच्छादित होनेके कारण किसीको कुछ भी ज्ञात नहीं होता था
sainyena rajasā caiva samantād utthitena ha | sārā jagat andhakāras tathā senādvārā sarva or uḍāyī huī dhūlase ācchādita honeke kāraṇa kisīko kucha bhī jñāta nahīṃ hotā thā |
Sañjaya said: With dust raised on every side by the armies, the whole scene became like darkness itself. Covered by the clouds of dust churned up by the troops, no one could clearly recognize anything—friend or foe, direction or formation—so the battle’s moral and practical order alike dissolved into confusion.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how violence and mass conflict generate ‘rajas’—literal dust and metaphorical obscuration—so discernment collapses. When perception is clouded, right action (dharma) becomes harder to identify and uphold, warning that war naturally breeds confusion and moral risk.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield at a moment when dust raised by the moving armies spreads everywhere, making the scene like darkness. Because visibility is lost, combatants cannot clearly recognize what is happening around them.