Shloka 19
Chapter 30: Formation Disruption, Competing War-Cries, and Nīla’s Fall
Droṇa-parva
खरोष्टमहिषा: सिंहा व्याप्रा: सूमरचित्रका: । ऋक्षा: शालावृका गृध्रा: कपयश्न सरीसूपा:,गदहे, ऊँट, भैंसे, सिंह, व्याप्र, रोझ, चीते, रीक्ष, कुत्ते, गीध, बन्दर, साँप तथा नाना प्रकारके भूखे राक्षस एवं भाँति-भाँतिके पक्षी अत्यन्त कुपित हो अर्जुनपर धावा करने लगे
sañjaya uvāca | kharoṣṭa-mahiṣāḥ siṃhā vyāghrāḥ sūmara-citrakāḥ | ṛkṣāḥ śālā-vṛkā gṛdhrāḥ kapayaś ca sarīsṛpāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Donkeys and buffaloes, lions and tigers, and beasts of varied and mottled kinds; bears, jackals, vultures, monkeys, and creeping reptiles—these and many other ravenous creatures, inflamed with fury, surged forward to assail Arjuna. The scene shows how, in the frenzy of war, even nature’s imagery turns predatory, mirroring the moral darkness and chaos that violence unleashes.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses predatory, chaotic imagery to highlight how war distorts the moral and natural order: when violence dominates, the world is pictured as turning hostile and ravenous, warning of the ethical degradation that accompanies unchecked fury.
Sañjaya describes a terrifying surge of fierce animals and scavengers—lions, tigers, jackals, vultures, and reptiles—rushing to attack Arjuna, functioning as vivid battlefield/omen imagery within the Drona Parva narration.