Shloka 18
नद्यौर्न भूमिर्न दिश:ः प्राज्ञायन्त तथागते
nadyor na bhūmir na diśaḥ prājñāyanta tathāgate
Sañjaya said: When he had thus advanced, neither the rivers, nor the land, nor even the directions could be clearly made out—everything seemed confounded in the wake of that onrushing movement, as if the very order of the battlefield had been swallowed by turmoil.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how violent momentum and collective upheaval in war can overwhelm human perception, erasing ordinary markers of orientation (land, rivers, directions). Ethically, it underscores war’s power to dissolve clarity and order, warning that conflict distorts judgment and the sense of right direction.
Sañjaya describes a moment of extreme commotion: as a force (or warrior) advances ‘thus,’ the battlefield becomes so disturbed that even basic landmarks—rivers, the ground, and the cardinal directions—cannot be distinguished.