Shloka 256
उपायैः पूर्ववधकथनम् / Strategic Justifications for Prior Eliminations
फेत्कारैहेषितै: शब्दै: सर्वमेवाकुलं बभौ | मृदंग और ढोलोंकी आवाजसे, झाँझ और पटहोंकी ध्वनिसे तथा हाथी-घोड़ोंके फुंकार और हींसनेके शब्दोंसे वहाँका सब कुछ व्याप्त जान पड़ता था
phetkārair heṣitaiḥ śabdaiḥ sarvam evākulaṃ babhau |
Sañjaya said: With the blaring cries, the neighing sounds, and the many clamorous noises, everything there appeared thrown into confusion—pervaded on all sides by the tumult of war, as drums and kettledrums resounded, cymbals and battle-kettles rang out, and elephants and horses filled the field with their trumpeting and neighing.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse is primarily descriptive rather than didactic: it underscores how war overwhelms the senses and the mind, producing collective agitation (ākulatā). In the Mahābhārata’s ethical horizon, such imagery implicitly warns that violence generates confusion and loss of clarity, making dharmic discernment harder amid tumult.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the battlefield scene in Droṇa Parva: the area is filled with loud cries and the sounds of animals and instruments—drums, kettledrums, cymbals—along with elephants’ trumpeting and horses’ neighing, so that everything seems engulfed in noise and disorder.