Shloka 12
उलूकदूतवाक्यम् / Ulūka’s Message to the Pāṇḍavas
सेनया चतुरद्धिण्या महत्या दूरपातया
senayā caturaddhiṇyā mahatyā dūrapātayā
Vaiśampāyana dit : Avec une immense armée aux quatre corps—si vaste et si redoutable qu’elle projetait sa puissance de loin—ils avancèrent.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical gravity of mobilized power: a ‘great fourfold army’ is not merely a spectacle but a force whose reach and consequences extend far, reminding the listener that war’s impact spreads beyond the battlefield and therefore demands careful dharmic judgment.
The narrator describes the presence/advance of a massive, fully constituted fourfold army (infantry, cavalry, chariots, elephants), emphasizing its magnitude and far-reaching striking capacity—an image that heightens the tension as the epic moves toward open conflict.