Narada Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 27
The Origin of the Gaṅgā and the Gods’ Defeat Caused by Bali
शूलैर्नालीकनाराचैः क्षेपणीयैस्समुद्ररैः । रथाश्वनागपदगैः सङ्कुलो ववृधे रणः ॥ २७ ॥
śūlairnālīkanārācaiḥ kṣepaṇīyaissamudraraiḥ | rathāśvanāgapadagaiḥ saṅkulo vavṛdhe raṇaḥ || 27 ||
The battle swelled into a dense tumult—filled with tridents (śūla), barbed arrows and reed-shafted darts, with hurled missiles and war-hammers, and crowded with chariots, horses, elephants, and foot-soldiers.
Suta (narrator) / Purana narrator (battle description in the ongoing narrative)
Vrata: none
Primary Rasa: raudra (anger)
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta (wonder)
FAQs
It portrays the overwhelming intensity of conflict, setting a narrative backdrop where dharma is tested; such scenes in Purāṇas typically prepare the reader for moral instruction on righteous conduct and the consequences of violence driven by adharma.
This specific verse is descriptive rather than devotional; indirectly, it contrasts worldly turmoil with the Purāṇic ideal that refuge in the Divine (bhakti) is the stabilizing path amid the chaos of saṃsāra.
No Vedāṅga instruction is explicit here; the verse mainly uses precise martial vocabulary and compound formation (a Vyākaraṇa-relevant feature), showing how Sanskrit compounds compactly enumerate many battlefield elements.