Shloka 28
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
वर्तमाने तथा घोरे संकुले सर्वतोदिशम् । अविज्ञाता: सम युध्यन्ते विनिध्नन्त: परस्परम्,उस घोर घमासान युद्धके चालू होनेपर सम्पूर्ण योद्धा एक-दूसरेपर चोट करते हुए बिना जाने-पहचाने ही युद्ध करते थे
vartamāne tathā ghore saṅkule sarvatodiśam | avijñātāḥ sama yudhyante vinighnantaḥ parasparam ||
Sañjaya said: As that dreadful, chaotic battle raged on in every direction, the warriors—unable to recognize one another—fought on blindly, striking and killing each other in mutual confusion.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical and psychological breakdown that accompanies extreme violence: when battle becomes all-pervading and chaotic, recognition, restraint, and discriminative judgment (viveka) fail, leading to indiscriminate mutual slaughter—an implicit warning about war’s dehumanizing momentum.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield at a moment of intense confusion: the fighting is so fierce and disorderly in every direction that combatants cannot identify friend or foe and therefore strike each other without recognition, resulting in mutual killing.