Shloka 20
तेषां शब्दो महानासीद् द्रवतां वाहिनीमुखे । महौघस्येव जलधेर्गिरिमासाद्य दीर्यत:
teṣāṃ śabdo mahān āsīd dravatāṃ vāhinī-mukhe | mahaughasyeva jaladher girim āsādya dīryataḥ ||
Sañjaya said: As those warriors surged forward at the very front of the host, a tremendous roar arose—like the crashing of the ocean’s mighty flood when it strikes against a mountain. The simile underscores the irresistible momentum of armies in war and the overwhelming, impersonal force that can drown out individual judgment and restraint.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how collective violence gains a force of its own: the army’s roar is compared to an oceanic surge smashing into a mountain, suggesting overwhelming momentum that can eclipse individual restraint and ethical reflection—an implicit warning about war’s dehumanizing power.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield as the warriors rush forward at the head of the army; their advancing movement produces a massive, thunderous clamor, likened to the sea’s great flood crashing against a mountain.