Shloka 26
अध्याय ९१ — शैनेयस्य गजानीकभेदनं जलसंधवधश्च
Chapter 91: Sātyaki breaks the elephant array and slays Jalasaṃdha
हस्तिभि: पतितैर्भिन्नैस्तव सैन्यमदृश्यत । अन्तकाले यथा भूमिर्व्यवकीर्णा महीधरै:,राजन! बाणोंसे छिन्न-भिन्न होकर धरतीपर पड़े हुए हाथियोंसे आपकी सेना वैसी ही दिखायी देती थी, जैसे प्रलयकालमें यह पृथ्वी इधर-उधर बिखरे हुए पर्वतोंसे आच्छादित देखी जाती है
hastibhiḥ patitair bhinnais tava sainyam adṛśyata | antakāle yathā bhūmir vyavakīrṇā mahīdharaiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Your army appeared strewn with elephants—fallen to the ground and hacked apart by arrows—so that it looked like the earth at the end of time, when the land is seen covered and scattered over with mountains thrown out of place.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses pralaya (end-time) imagery to highlight the catastrophic cost of adharma-driven conflict: even the mightiest symbols of royal power—war elephants, likened to mountains—become debris. It invites reflection on impermanence and the ethical weight of decisions that lead to mass destruction.
Sañjaya reports to the king that the Kaurava host looks devastated: elephants lie on the ground, broken and mutilated by arrows, making the battlefield resemble the earth at cosmic dissolution, strewn with displaced mountains.