Shloka 40
यत्र यत्र सम दृश्यने प्रदीपा: कुरुसत्तम । तत्र तत्र सम शूरास्ते निपतन्ति पतज्भवत्,कुरुश्रेष्ठी जहाँ-जहाँ मशालें दिखायी देती थीं, वहाँ-वहाँ शूरवीर सैनिक पतंगोंकी तरह टूट पड़ते थे
sañjaya uvāca | yatra yatra sama-darśane pradīpāḥ kuru-sattama | tatra tatra sama-śūrās te nipatanti pataṅga-bhavat ||
Sañjaya said: “O best of the Kurus, wherever torches were seen shining alike, there and there those warriors, equally bold, rushed in—falling upon the fray like moths drawn to a flame.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in the heat of war, visible signals (torches) can irresistibly draw fighters into danger—suggesting the ethical tension between valor and heedless self-destruction, like moths rushing toward flame.
Sañjaya describes a battlefield scene (likely at night): wherever torches are seen, warriors converge and charge there, repeatedly plunging into combat as if attracted to the light.