Shloka 13

Devanagari script

ग्रसमानमनीकानि नरवारणवाजिनाम्‌ । पश्यामीवाग्रतो भीम॑ क्रोधमूर्च्छितमाहवे,मुझे अपने सामने दीख-सा रहा है कि भीमसेन युद्धमें क्रोधसे मूर्च्छित हो मनुष्य, हाथी और घोड़ोंकी (समस्त) सेनाओंको कालका ग्रास बनाता जा रहा है

Transliteration

grasamānam anīkāni naravāraṇavājinām | paśyāmīva agrato bhīmaṁ krodhamūrcchitam āhave ||

Translation

Dijo Dhṛtarāṣṭra: «Es como si viera a Bhīma ante mí: en medio de la batalla, arrebatado y cegado por la ira, devorando las formaciones de hombres, elefantes y caballos, y haciendo de ejércitos enteros presa de la Muerte.»

Word by Word

ग्रसमानम्devouring, swallowing

अनीकानिarmies, divisions (of troops)

नरof men

वारणof elephants

वाजिनाम्of horses

पश्यामिI see

इवas if, like

अग्रतःin front, before (me)

भीमम्Bhima

क्रोधwith anger, by anger

मूर्च्छितम्frenzied, swooned/overpowered

आहवेin battle

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Bhīma

human warriors (nara)

war-elephants (vāraṇa)

war-horses (vājin)

armies/battle-formations (anīkāni)

battle (āhava)

Death (implied by ‘prey of Death’/kāla in the sense)

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how unchecked anger (krodha) can overwhelm discernment and turn a warrior into an instrument of destruction, suggesting an ethical warning: even within kṣatriya duty, wrath-driven violence accelerates ruin and invites the shadow of Kāla (Death/time).

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛtarāṣṭra expresses a vivid, fearful premonition: he imagines Bhīma in the coming war, maddened by anger, tearing through the enemy’s battle-formations—men, elephants, and horses—so relentlessly that the armies seem to be swallowed by Death.