Shloka 393
अध्याय २६ — शल्यस्य सारथ्य-नियोजनं, कर्णस्य प्रस्थानं, उत्पातदर्शनं च
Chapter 26: Śalya appointed as charioteer; Karṇa’s departure; portents
चरतस्तस्य संग्रामे तस्मिंललोहितकर्दमे । मान्यवर! उस संग्राममें रक्तकी कीच मच गयी थी। उसमें विचरते हुए अर्जुनके रथके पहिये मानो भयसे शिथिल होते जा रहे थे
sañjaya uvāca |
caratas tasya saṅgrāme tasmiṃl lohitakardame |
… arjunasya rathacakrāṇi bhayād iva śithilībhavantīti ||
Dijo Sañjaya: ¡Oh venerable! En aquella lucha la tierra se había vuelto un lodazal de sangre. Al moverse Arjuna por ese fango rojo, las ruedas de su carro parecían, como por temor, aflojarse poco a poco y perder su firme agarre. La escena muestra cómo el caos físico y moral de la guerra puede hacer que incluso los instrumentos de una causa justa parezcan vacilar, poniendo a prueba la determinación en medio de una carnicería abrumadora.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how the brutality of war can shake even the strongest resolve: when the battlefield becomes a ‘mire of blood,’ one’s tools and confidence may seem to falter. It implicitly calls for steadiness in dharma—acting with clarity and courage despite भय (fear) and the surrounding moral chaos.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield as churned into blood-mud. Amid this carnage, as Arjuna moves through the fight, his chariot-wheels appear to loosen ‘as if from fear,’ intensifying the sense of peril and the strain of the ongoing combat.