Shloka 24
आविग्नमभवत् सर्व कौरवाणां महद् बलम्,कौरवों तथा पांचालोंके सारे विशाल सैन्य परस्पर मिलकर व्यग्र हो उठे थे। उस समय उनमेंसे किसी दलको अलग-अलग पहचाना नहीं जाता था। वह समरांगण यमराजका क्रीडास्थल-सा हो रहा था और कायरोंका भय बढ़ा रहा था
āvignam abhavat sarvaṁ kauravāṇāṁ mahat balam | kauravāḥ tathā pāñcālāḥ sarve viśālāḥ sainyāḥ parasparaṁ militvā vyagraṁ babhūvuḥ | tadā teṣāṁ madhye kasya cid dalasya pṛthak pṛthag abhijñānaṁ na prāpyata | sa samara-aṅgaṇaḥ yamārājasya krīḍā-sthala-sadṛśo babhūva ca kāyarāṇāṁ bhayaṁ vardhayām āsa ||
Sañjaya said: The great host of the Kauravas became unsettled. Kauravas and Panchalas—those vast armies—had collided and intermingled in such confusion that no separate formation could be clearly distinguished. The battlefield looked like a playground of Yama, the Lord of Death, and it only increased the fear of the faint-hearted.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how war dissolves clear distinctions and order, confronting everyone with death’s presence; courage and steadiness are tested, while the faint-hearted are overwhelmed by fear.
Sanjaya describes a moment in the Drona Parva battle when Kaurava and Panchala forces collide so thoroughly that units cannot be identified; the field appears like Yama’s arena, intensifying terror among the timid.