Shloka 316
लक्ष॑ नरद्विपान् हत्वा समेतान् समहाबलान् | “वे एक-एक मुट्ठी बाणसे ही युद्धस्थलमें एकत्र हुए लाखों महाबली पैदल मनुष्यों और हाथियोंका संहार करके सहस्रों रथियोंको मार सकते थे
lakṣaṁ naradvipān hatvā sametān samahābalān |
Sañjaya said: Having slain a hundred thousand men and elephants gathered together, all of great might, such was the prowess in that battle that with only a handful of arrows they could cut down masses assembled on the field. The verse lays bare the terrifying scale of ruin that unbridled martial power can unleash, where valor readily turns to wholesale slaughter.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the catastrophic consequences of war: extraordinary martial prowess can rapidly become mass killing. It implicitly invites reflection on restraint, responsibility, and the moral weight borne by warriors and rulers when violence escalates beyond measure.
Sañjaya is reporting battlefield events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describing immense slaughter—hundreds of thousands of men and elephants—emphasizing how concentrated and overwhelming the combatants’ power is in this phase of the Kurukṣetra war.