Shloka 57
वासवी-शक्तेः प्रयोगः, घटोत्कच-वधोत्तर-शोकः, व्यासोपदेशश्च
The Vāsavī Spear’s Use, Post-Ghaṭotkaca Grief, and Vyāsa’s Counsel
कार्ष्णायसं महाघोरमृक्षचर्मपरिच्छदम्,घटोत्कच जिस विशाल रथपर बैठकर आया था, वह काले लोहेका बना हुआ और अत्यन्त भयंकर था। उसके ऊपर रीछकी खाल मढ़ी हुई थी। उसके भीतरी भागकी लंबाई- चौड़ाई तीस नल्व- (बारह हजार हाथ) थी। उसमें यन्त्र और कवच रखे हुए थे। चलते समय उससे मेघोंकी भारी घटाके समान गम्भीर शब्द होता था। उसमें हाथी-जैसे विशालकाय वाहन जुते हुए थे, जो वास्तवमें न घोड़े थे और न हाथी। उस रथकी ध्वजाका डंडा बहुत ऊँचा था। वह ध्वज पंख और पंजे फैलाकर आँखें फाड़-फाड़कर देखने और कूजनेवाले एक गृध्रराजसे सुशोभित था। उसकी पताका खूनसे भीगी हुई थी और उस रथको आँतोंकी मालासे विभूषित किया गया था
sañjaya uvāca—kārṣṇāyasaṃ mahāghoram ṛkṣacarma-paricchadam; ghaṭotkacaḥ sa viśāla-rathopaviṣṭaḥ samāyāt. tasya antar-bhāgasya dīrgha-vistāraḥ triṃśan-nalvaḥ (dvādaśa-sahasra-hasta-pramāṇaḥ) āsīt. tatra yantrāṇi kavacāni ca nyastāni āsan. calataḥ megha-ghanavat gambhīraḥ śabdaḥ samajāyata. tatra hastivat mahākāyāni vāhanāni yuktāni āsan, na tu te aśvāḥ, na ca hastinaḥ. tasya dhvaja-daṇḍaḥ atyuccaḥ āsīt. dhvajaḥ pakṣa-pāṇi-prasāritam, netre visphārya paśyantam kūjantam ca gṛdhrarājaṃ iva śobhayāmāsa. patākā rudhira-siktā āsīt, rathaś ca antra-mālābhiḥ vibhūṣitaḥ āsīt.
Sañjaya said: Mounted on a vast chariot of black iron—terrifying in aspect and covered with bearskin—Ghaṭotkaca arrived. Its inner space was immense, said to measure thirty nalvas (twelve thousand cubits) in length and breadth. Within it were stored engines and armor. As it moved, it gave forth a deep, ominous roar like a dense mass of thunderclouds. It was yoked to huge elephant-like creatures—yet they were neither horses nor elephants in truth. Its flagstaff rose exceedingly high, and the banner bore a king of vultures, wings and talons spread, eyes wide and crying out. The pennant was drenched in blood, and the chariot was adorned with garlands of entrails—an image of deliberate terror and the moral darkness that follows slaughter.
सयजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how war can descend into deliberate terror: gruesome symbols (blood, entrails, carrion-bird emblems) are used to intimidate and dehumanize. It implicitly warns that even when fighting for a cause, methods that revel in भय (fear) and हिंसा (violence) darken the moral atmosphere and erode dharmic restraint.
Sañjaya describes Ghaṭotkaca’s arrival on an enormous, black-iron, bearskin-covered chariot packed with devices and armor. The chariot thunders like stormclouds, is drawn by uncanny elephant-like beasts, and bears a high banner with a vulture emblem and blood-soaked, entrail-decorated flags—signaling a terrifying rakṣasa-style entry into the battlefield.