Shloka 35
द्रोणस्य सुपर्णव्यूहः — युधिष्ठिरप्रत्यव्यूहः
Droṇa’s Suparṇa Formation and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Counter-array
तद् बभौ रौद्रबी भत्सं बीभत्सोर्यानमाहवे । आक्रीडमिव रुद्रस्य घ्नत: कालात्यये पशून्,रणक्षेत्रमें अर्जुनका वह भयंकर एवं बीभत्स रथ प्रलयकालमें पशुओं (जगतके जीवों) का संहार करनेवाले रुद्रदेवके क्रीड़ास्थल-सा प्रतीत हो रहा था
sañjaya uvāca | tad babhau raudrabībhatsaṃ bībhatsor yānam āhave | ākrīḍam iva rudrasya ghnataḥ kālātyaye paśūn |
Sañjaya said: In that battle, Arjuna’s chariot—terrible and ghastly in its fury—seemed like Rudra’s very playground, as at the end of time when he strikes down living beings. The sight spoke not only of prowess, but of war’s dreadful, world-shaking cost, where even righteous combat takes on an apocalyptic form.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the terrifying magnitude of war: even when a warrior fights for a cause deemed righteous, the battlefield can resemble cosmic destruction. It invites reflection on the moral gravity and human cost inherent in violence.
Sañjaya describes Arjuna’s chariot in the thick of combat as so fearsome that it seems like Rudra’s own arena at the end of time, when beings are slain in the cosmic dissolution—an image intensifying Arjuna’s overwhelming presence in battle.