Shloka 27

Devanagari script

सम्पतन्तश्न दृश्यन्ते गोमायुबलवायसा:

Transliteration

sampatantaś ca dṛśyante gomāyu-balavāyasāḥ

Translation

Sañjaya rapporte que des chacals et de puissants corbeaux sont vus fondre ensemble—signe de mauvais augure dans le récit de la guerre, annonçant la proximité du carnage et l’assombrissement moral lorsque le dharma est mis à l’épreuve par la violence.

Word by Word

सम्पतन्तःfalling down, swooping down

चand

दृश्यन्तेare seen, appear

गोमायु-बल-वायसाःjackals, crows, and strong (ones) / strong crows (as a list of ominous creatures)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

jackals (gomāyu)

crows (vāyasa)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how traditional omen-language frames war as not merely political conflict but a moral crisis: predatory scavengers gathering signals impending death and warns that adharma and violence bring grim consequences.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes battlefield portents—jackals and strong crows swooping down—indicating that the field is becoming a place of imminent carnage, where creatures associated with corpses and ruin appear in numbers.