Shloka 35
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
मत्ता इव महानागा विनदन्तो मुहुर्मुहु: । सुभीमा घोररूपाश्न शूलपट्टिशपाणय:,वे मतवाले गजराजोंके समान बारंबार गर्जना करते थे। उनके हाथोंमें शूल और पट्टिश दिखायी देते थे। वे घोर रूपधारी और भयंकर थे
sañjaya uvāca | mattā iva mahānāgā vinadanto muhur muhuḥ | subhīmā ghorarūpāś ca śūla-paṭṭiśa-pāṇayaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “They roared again and again like intoxicated great elephants. Terrible to behold and of dreadful appearance, they carried spears and battle-axes in their hands.” In the Sauptika context, this imagery heightens the moral darkness of the night-raid: the assailants are portrayed as fearsome, uncontrolled forces, emphasizing the collapse of restraint and the escalation of adharma in war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how, when restraint and dharma collapse in wartime, humans can become like maddened forces of nature—loud, terrifying, and weapon-driven. In Sauptika Parva, such descriptions implicitly critique the moral degradation surrounding the nocturnal slaughter.
Sañjaya describes the attackers (or warriors in the night scene) as repeatedly roaring like intoxicated elephants, dreadful in appearance, and armed with spears and battle-axes—building an atmosphere of terror and impending violence.