Shloka 73
Cakravyūha-saṃkalpaḥ, Saṃśaptaka-āhvānaṃ, Saubhadra-vikrīḍitam
Drona Parva, Adhyāya 32
पदातिरथनागाश्चा गजाश्वरथपत्तिभि:
padātirathanāgāś ca gajāśvarathapattibhiḥ
Sañjaya reports that the battlefield was filled with every kind of fighting force—foot-soldiers, charioteers, and elephant-warriors—intermingled with troops of elephants, horses, chariots, and infantry. The line underscores the overwhelming scale and confusion of war, where all arms of the army converge and individual lives are swept into a vast, impersonal machinery of combat.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the sheer magnitude and entanglement of warfare: when all divisions of an army collide together, the battle becomes a collective force that can eclipse individual judgment. Ethically, it points to the Mahābhārata’s recurring warning that war, once unleashed, rapidly becomes indiscriminate and difficult to control.
Sañjaya is describing the battlefield scene in Droṇa Parva: multiple arms of the forces—infantry, chariots, elephants, and horses—are mixed together in the fighting, conveying a dense, tumultuous clash of troops.