Shloka 47
Adhyāya 16: Saṃśaptaka-vrata and the Diversion of Arjuna (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय १६)
न दिशो नान्तरिक्ष॑ च न द्यौर्नैव च मेदिनी । अदृश्यन्त महाराज बाणभूता इवाभवन्,महाराज! न दिशाएँ, न अन्तरिक्ष, न आकाश और न पृथिवी ही दिखायी देती थी। सम्पूर्ण दिशाएँ बाणमय हो रही थीं
na diśo nāntarikṣaṃ ca na dyaur naiva ca medinī | adṛśyanta mahārāja bāṇabhūtā ivābhavan ||
Sañjaya dit : Ô grand roi, on ne distinguait ni les directions, ni l’espace aérien, ni le ciel, ni même la terre. C’était comme si tous les horizons s’étaient changés en flèches, tant les armes emplissaient le champ. La scène exprime l’horreur morale de la guerre à son paroxysme : lorsque les armes dominent jusqu’à la perception, le discernement et la retenue humaine s’éclipsent, et le monde paraît réduit à des instruments de blessure.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how unchecked violence overwhelms perception and judgment: when the battlefield is saturated with weapons, the very world (directions, sky, earth) seems to vanish, suggesting the ethical cost of war—loss of clarity, restraint, and humane orientation.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the fighting has become so intense and the air so filled with arrows that one cannot distinguish directions, sky, or earth; everything appears as if transformed into a mass of arrows.