Shloka 36
Droṇasya raudra-prayogaḥ
Droṇa’s intensified assault and the Pāṇḍava response
गृध्रा: श्येना बका: कड्का वायसाश्न सहस्रश: । उपर्युपरि सेनां ते तदा पर्यपतन् नूप
gṛdhrāḥ śyenā bakāḥ kaṅkā vāyasāś ca sahasraśaḥ | uparyupari senāṃ te tadā paryapatan nṛpa ||
Sañjaya said: “Vultures, hawks, cranes, herons, and crows—by the thousands—were then circling again and again above your army, O king.” The ominous flight of carrion-birds signals the moral darkness and impending slaughter that accompany a war driven by pride and adharma.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the epic’s ethical warning that war pursued without dharma invites ominous signs and inevitable ruin; nature itself appears to foreshadow the consequences of mass violence.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that large numbers of carrion-birds are circling above the Kaurava forces—an inauspicious battlefield omen suggesting imminent death and defeat.