Shloka 55

Devanagari script

यथा चन्द्रोदयोद्धूत: क्षुभितः सागरो5भवत्‌ | तथा चन्द्रोदयोद्धूत: स बभूव बलार्णव:,जैसे पूर्णिमाके चन्द्रमाका उदय होनेपर उससे प्रभावित होनेवाले महासागरमें ज्वार उठने लगता है, उसी प्रकार उस समय चन्द्रोदय होनेसे उस सारे सैन्य-समुद्रमें खलबली मच गयी

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | yathā candrodayoddhūtaḥ kṣubhitaḥ sāgaro 'bhavat | tathā candrodayoddhūtaḥ sa babhūva balārṇavaḥ |

Translation

Sañjaya dit : «De même que l’océan, remué par le lever de la lune, enfle et s’agite, de même, en cet instant, l’immense océan des armées—comme soulevé par la montée de la lune—fut jeté dans le tumulte.»

Word by Word

यथाjust as

चन्द्र-उदय-उद्धूतःstirred up by the moonrise

क्षुभितःagitated, churned

सागरःocean

अभवत्became

तथाso, in the same way

चन्द्र-उदय-उद्धूतःstirred up by the moonrise

सःthat/it/he

बभूवbecame, came to be

बल-अर्णवःocean of troops (army-ocean)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

the moon (candra)

the ocean (sāgara)

the ocean of armies (balārṇava)

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 external conditions can rapidly inflame collective emotion: like tides responding to the moon, armies can surge into agitation when a triggering sign or moment arrives—an ethical reminder to recognize and govern mass impulse amid war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya describes the battlefield mood: with the moon’s rising, the assembled forces are compared to an ocean whose waters heave under lunar influence, indicating a sudden, widespread stirring and unrest across the host.