Mahabharata 9.7.32 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 7, Shloka 32
Śalya Installed as Commander; Coalition Agreement and Battle Arrays (शल्यसेनापत्यारोहणं व्यूहवर्णनं च)
मद्रराजो महाराज सिंहद्विरदविक्रम: । विचरिष्यत्यभी: काले काल: क्रुद्ध: प्रजास्विव
sañjaya uvāca |
madra-rājo mahā-rāja siṁha-dvirada-vikramaḥ |
vicariṣyaty abhīḥ kāle kālaḥ kruddhaḥ prajās iva |
iti satyaṁ bravīmy eṣa duryodhana na saṁśayaḥ |
Sanjaya said: “O great king, the ruler of Madra—Shalya, whose prowess is like that of a lion and an elephant—will roam the battlefield without fear, like Time itself at the hour of dissolution, enraged against living beings. This is the truth I tell you, Duryodhana; there is no doubt of it.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames martial power within a larger moral-cosmic horizon: even human heroism is portrayed through the image of Kāla (Time/Death), reminding the listener that war unleashes forces that resemble inevitable, impersonal destruction beyond individual control.
Sanjaya reports to Duryodhana (and, by extension, to the royal audience) a confident assessment of Shalya: the Madra king will enter and range across the battlefield fearlessly, his might compared to lion and elephant, and his presence likened to enraged Time at the end of an age.
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