Shloka 32

Devanagari script

अन्योन्यमभिधावन्तौ मत्ताविव महाद्विपौ । वासितासंगमे दृप्ती शरदीव मदोत्कटौ,जैसे शरद-ऋतुमें मैथुनकी इच्छावाली हथिनीसे समागम करनेके लिये दो मतवाले हाथी मदोन्मत्त होकर एक-दूसरेपर धावा करते हों, उसी प्रकार अपने बलका गर्व रखनेवाले वे दोनों वीर एक-दूसरेसे टक्कर लेनेको उद्यत थे। शत्रुओंका दमन करनेवाले वे दोनों योद्धा दो सर्पोके समान प्रज्वलित क्रोधरूपी विषका वमन करते हुए एक-दूसरेको रोषपूर्वक देख रहे थे

Transliteration

anyonyam abhidhāvantau mattāv iva mahādvipau | vāsitāsaṅgame dṛptī śaradīva madotkaṭau ||

Translation

Sanjaya said: Like two great elephants, drunk with musth, charging at one another—proud and frenzied as in the autumn season when they rush toward union with a receptive mate—so those two heroes, exulting in their own strength, advanced to collide. Each, a subduer of foes, fixed the other with an angry gaze, as though spewing the blazing poison of wrath like two serpents.

Word by Word

अन्योन्यम्mutually, each other

अभिधावन्तौrunning towards (charging)

मत्तौintoxicated, rut-maddened

इवlike, as if

महाद्विपौtwo great elephants

वासिता-सङ्गमेin the union/meeting with a female elephant in heat

दृप्तीproud, haughty

शरदिin autumn

इवlike, as if

मद-उत्कटौfierce with rut/intoxication

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

two unnamed warriors (the pair being compared)

elephants (mahādvipa)

serpents (implied in the simile)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how pride in strength and unchecked anger can drive warriors into destructive collision, likening martial fury to animal rut and serpent-venom—an implicit warning that passion and wrath, when ungoverned by dharma, intensify violence and cloud discernment.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes two opposing champions rushing at each other for a direct clash. Their mutual charge and hostile staring are portrayed through vivid similes: musth-maddened elephants seeking combat and serpents spewing the poison of blazing rage.