Shloka 4
तद् भीमवेगं रुधिरौघवाहि खड्गाकुल क्षत्रियजीवघाति । अनार्तवं क्रूरमनिष्टवर्ष बभूव तत् संहरणं प्रजानाम्
sañjaya uvāca |
tad bhīmavegaṁ rudhiraughavāhi khaḍgākula kṣatriyajīvaghāti |
anārtavaṁ krūram aniṣṭavarṣaṁ babhūva tat saṁharaṇaṁ prajānām ||
Sañjaya said: That battle—driven by a terrifying momentum—became a torrent carrying streams of blood. Crowded with flashing swords, it slaughtered the lives of kṣatriyas. Like a cruel, untimely, ill-omened rain, it turned into a sweeping destruction of the people.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse ethically reframes battlefield ‘heroism’ as a disordering calamity: war becomes an untimely, inauspicious rain that destroys the people. It highlights the moral cost of kṣatriya conflict—life is swept away like a flood—inviting reflection on dharma versus destructive rage.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the fighting has intensified into a terrifying surge: sword-filled combat produces a flood of blood and widespread death among warriors, portrayed through the vivid metaphor of a cruel, seasonless storm that devastates the populace.