Shloka 8
शल्यस्य पाण्डवसेनापीडनम् — Śalya’s Assault on the Pāṇḍava Host
with Omens and Bhīma’s Counter
तेषु राजन् निवृत्तेषु व्यूढानीकेषु भागश: । प्रावर्तत महारौद्र: संग्राम: शोणितोदक:,राजन! पृथक्-पृथक् सेनाओंकी व्यूह-रचना करके जब वे सभी सैनिक लौट आये, तब दोनों दलोंमें महाभयंकर संग्राम छिड़ गया, जहाँ पानीकी तरह खून बहाया जा रहा था
teṣu rājan nivṛtteṣu vyūḍhānīkeṣu bhāgaśaḥ | prāvartata mahāraudraḥ saṅgrāmaḥ śoṇitodakaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: O King, when those troops had returned after being arrayed in divisions with their battle-formations set, a most dreadful combat broke out between the two armies—one in which blood flowed as if it were water.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical catastrophe of war: once armies are methodically organized into formations, violence becomes systematic and escalates into indiscriminate slaughter, symbolized by blood flowing like water—an implicit warning about how order and strategy can magnify destruction when dharma collapses.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that after the troops regrouped and were arranged in separate battle-formations, the fighting resumed with extreme ferocity between the two sides, turning the battlefield into a scene of massive bloodshed.