Shloka 326
Cakravyūha-saṃkalpaḥ, Saṃśaptaka-āhvānaṃ, Saubhadra-vikrīḍitam
Drona Parva, Adhyāya 32
अभ्यतिष्ठत् पदा भूमौ सहाश्वं सहसारथिम् | झरने बहानेवाले पर्वतकी भाँति किसी मदस्रावी गजराजने सारथि और अश्वोंसहित रथीको पैरोंसे भूमिपर दबाकर उन सबको कुचल डाला
abhya-tiṣṭhat padā bhūmau sahāśvaṃ sahasārathim | jharane bahāne-vāle parvatakī bhānti kisī madasrāvī gajarājane sārathi-aśva-sahitaṃ rathinaṃ pādaiḥ bhūmau dabākar un sabko kucal ḍālā |
Sañjaya said: The rut-maddened lord of elephants, like a mountain with torrents rushing down its sides, stepped upon the chariot-warrior together with his horses and charioteer, pinning them to the earth and crushing them all. In the brutal press of battle, strength unrestrained becomes sheer destruction, showing how war can reduce living beings and their roles—warrior, driver, and animal alike—to a single, indiscriminate ruin.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the indiscriminate devastation of war: when raw power (symbolized by a musth elephant) is unleashed, it can annihilate warrior, charioteer, and animals alike. Ethically, it underscores the Mahābhārata’s recurring warning that violence, even within kṣatriya warfare, easily exceeds human control and collapses distinctions of role and merit.
Sañjaya describes a battlefield moment in which a rut-maddened elephant charges and physically steps on a chariot unit—crushing the chariot-warrior along with the charioteer and horses—likening the elephant’s overwhelming force to a mountain with cascading torrents.