Shloka 35
उपायैः पूर्ववधकथनम् / Strategic Justifications for Prior Eliminations
वादित्रघोषस्तनितां चापविद्युद्ध्वजैर्व॒ताम् । द्रोणपाण्डवपर्जन्यां खड्गशक्तिगदाशनिम्
vāditraghoṣa-stanitāṁ cāpa-vidyud-dhvajair vṛtām | droṇa-pāṇḍava-parjanyāṁ khaḍga-śakti-gadā-śanim ||
Sañjaya said: “It was ringed by the thunder-like roar of instruments, and by banners flashing like lightning above drawn bows. That storm of battle—raised between Droṇa and the Pāṇḍavas—was like a rain-cloud, hurling down swords, spears, and maces as its thunderbolts.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse offers no direct moral injunction; its ethical force lies in portraying war as a natural calamity—thunder, lightning, and thunderbolts—suggesting the overwhelming, impersonal destructiveness that engulfs even great warriors. It implicitly cautions that martial glory is inseparable from mass suffering and uncontrollable escalation.
Sañjaya describes the battle between Droṇa’s forces and the Pāṇḍavas as a violent storm: the roar of instruments is thunder, banners and bow-flashes are lightning, and the weapons—swords, spears, and maces—fall like thunderbolts. The focus is on the sensory intensity and the scale of destruction.