Shloka 36

Devanagari script

तत उत्सृज्य पाणिशभ्यां प्रदीपांस्तव वाहिनी । युयुधे पाण्डवै: सार्धमुन्मत्तवदसंकुला,तदनन्तर आपकी सेना अपने हाथोंसे मशालें फेंककर उन्मत्तके समान असंकुलभावसे पाण्डव-सैनिकोंके साथ युद्ध करने लगी

Transliteration

tata utsṛjya pāṇibhyāṃ pradīpāṃs tava vāhinī | yuyudhe pāṇḍavaiḥ sārdham unmatta-vad asaṅkulā ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: Then your army, casting away the torches from their hands, fought together with the Pāṇḍava troops—rushing in like men possessed, without hesitation or orderly formation.

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

उत्सृज्यhaving thrown away / having cast off

पाणिभ्याम्with (both) hands

प्रदीपान्torches

तवyour

वाहिनीarmy

युयुधेfought

पाण्डवैःwith the Pandavas

सार्धम्together (with)

उन्मत्तवत्like a madman; madly

असंकुलाunconfused; not in disorder

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'tava')

Kaurava army (tava vāhinī)

Pāṇḍava soldiers (pāṇḍavaiḥ)

Torches (pradīpāḥ)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how warfare can erode discipline and moral clarity: when fear and rage dominate, fighters abandon order and act 'like the mad.' It implicitly warns that violence tends to intensify into chaos, making dharmic restraint harder to sustain.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s forces throw away their torches and then surge into combat with the Pāṇḍava troops in a frenzied, disorderly manner, suggesting a sudden shift to close fighting and confusion on the battlefield.