Shloka 6
बाहू धरण्यां निष्पिष्य सुदुर्मत्त इव द्विप: । प्रकीर्णान् मूर्थजान् धुन्वन् दन्तैर्दन्तानुपस्पृशन्
bāhū dharaṇyāṁ niṣpiṣya sudurmatta iva dvipaḥ | prakīrṇān mūrthajān dhunvan dantair dantān upaspṛśan
Sañjaya said: “Crushing his arms upon the earth like a wildly maddened elephant, he shook his dishevelled hair and ground his teeth against his teeth—an outward storm of grief and fury that shows how war drives even the mighty into helpless, self-consuming anguish.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the psychological devastation of war: even powerful warriors can be reduced to uncontrolled, self-harming expressions of grief and rage. Ethically, it points to the inner cost of adharma-driven conflict—violence rebounds as suffering within the victor and the vanquished alike.
Sañjaya describes a warrior (implied from context) overwhelmed by emotion on the battlefield: he throws himself down, presses his arms into the ground, shakes his disordered hair, and grinds his teeth—likened to a frenzied elephant.