Shloka 6.52.24
धूम्राक्षवधः (The Slaying of Dhumrākṣa)
धनुर्ज्यातन्त्रिमधुरंहिक्कातालसमन्वितम् ।मन्धस्न्तितसङ्गीतंतद्युद्धगान्धर्वमाबभौ ।।6.52.24।।
dhanurjyātantrimadhuraṃ hikkātālasamanvitam | mandahastitasaṅgītaṃ tad yuddhagāndharvam ābabhau ||6.52.24||
The battle resounded like a gāndharva performance: sweet was the twang of the bowstring as of a lute, the horses’ cries rang like cymbals, and the elephants’ trumpeting became its deep music.
It seemed like music in the form of twang of bow strings, neighing of horses like the sound of wooden cymbals, vocal music in the form of trumpeting of elephants, that battle seemed like symphony.
Even amid violence, the poet’s vision imposes order and meaning; dharma is aligned with harmony and intelligibility, resisting the reduction of war to mere chaos.
Aesthetic narration pauses the action to describe the battlefield’s sounds as if they formed a musical ensemble.
Not a single character trait, but the epic’s reflective wisdom: the capacity to perceive pattern and moral gravity even in upheaval.