Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 8
Adhyāya 14: Śalya’s Missile-Pressure and the Pāṇḍava Convergence (शल्यस्य शरवर्षम्)
नैतादृशं दृष्टपूर्व राजन् नैव च न श्रुतम्
naitādṛśaṃ dṛṣṭapūrva rājann naiva ca na śrutam
Sanjaya said: O King, never before has anything like this been seen, nor has it even been heard of. The moment is presented as unprecedented—an ethical shock within the war narrative, where familiar norms of battle and human conduct seem to be exceeded or overturned.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral and psychological weight of witnessing extreme events: when actions in war cross familiar boundaries, they are marked as 'unseen and unheard-of,' prompting reflection on how adharma can escalate beyond precedent and how testimony (Sañjaya’s) frames ethical judgment.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that what is occurring on the battlefield is unprecedented—something neither seen before nor even heard of—signaling a climactic or shocking turn in the events of the Kurukṣetra war.
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