Shloka 7
Adhyāya 17 — गजयुद्ध-वृत्तान्तः, सहदेव-दुःशासन-संघर्षः, नकुल-कर्ण-समागमः
Elephant-battle account; Sahadeva–Duhshasana clash; Nakula–Karna encounter
रथानधिष्ठाय सवाजिसारथीन् नरांश्व पादर्द्धिददो व्यपोथयत् | द्विपांश्न पद्धयां ममृदे करेण द्विपोत्तमो हन्ति च कालचक्रवत्
rathān adhiṣṭhāya savājisārathīn narānś ca pādair dṛḍhadāruṇo vyapothayat | dvipāṃś ca pādbhyāṃ mamṛde kareṇa dvipottamo hanti ca kālacakravat ||
Sañjaya dit : Montant sur les chars, le plus éminent des éléphants les broyait—chars, chevaux et cochers—jusqu’à les réduire en décombres. Il piétinait les fantassins et écrasait les autres éléphants de ses deux pieds et de sa trompe. Ainsi, tel la roue même du Temps, le seigneur des éléphants se mit à anéantir l’armée ennemie.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the battlefield reality that war unleashes a force resembling kāla (Time): overwhelming, indiscriminate, and difficult to restrain. Ethically, it highlights the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between dharma as an ideal and the brutal momentum of armed conflict, where immediate outcomes are driven by power and circumstance rather than moral discernment.
Sañjaya describes a mighty elephant rampaging through the opposing army: stepping onto chariots and crushing them along with horses and charioteers, trampling infantry, and grinding down other elephants with feet and trunk—likened to the inexorable wheel of Time destroying all before it.