इति संवदतोरेव तयो: पुरुषसिंहयो: । ते सेने समसज्जेतां गज़ायमुनवद् भूशम्,राजन! वे दोनों पुरुषसिंह शल्य और कर्ण इस प्रकार बातें कर ही रहे थे कि कौरव और पाण्डवकी दोनों सेनाएँ गंगा और यमुनाके समान एक-दूसरीसे वेगपूर्वक जा मिलीं
iti saṁvadator eva tayoḥ puruṣasiṁhayoḥ | te sene samasajjetāṁ gaṅgāyamunavad bhūśam ||
As those two lion-like men—Śalya and Karṇa—were still speaking thus, the two armies, Kaurava and Pāṇḍava, surged into contact. O king, they met with headlong force, like the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā rushing together.
शल्य उवाच
The verse underscores how swiftly counsel and conversation are overtaken by the momentum of war: once hostility is set in motion, events converge with irresistible force, making ethical responsibility for earlier choices—pride, provocation, refusal of restraint—more acute.
While Śalya and Karṇa are still in conversation, the Kaurava and Pāṇḍava forces advance and collide. The meeting is compared to the confluence of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā, emphasizing the power and inevitability of the clash.