Chapter 23: Śakuni Reports, Kaurava Advance, and Arjuna’s Penetration of the Host
चचाल शब्दं कुर्वाणा सपर्वतवना मही । सदण्डा: सोल्मुका राजन् कीर्यमाणा: समन्तत:
cacāla śabdaṃ kurvāṇā saparvatavanā mahī | sadaṇḍāḥ solmukā rājan kīryamāṇāḥ samantataḥ ||
સંજય બોલ્યો—હે રાજન! જ્યારે ગદા અને જ્વલંત અગ્નિશલાકાઓ સર્વ દિશામાં ફેંકાતી હતી, ત્યારે પર્વતો અને વનો સહિત ધરતી મહાન્ ઘોષ કરતી જાણે કંપી ઊઠી.
संजय उवाच
The verse underscores how uncontrolled violence in war becomes all-pervading and indiscriminate, so intense that it is poetically described as shaking the very earth; it hints at the ethical cost of conflict, where human aggression seems to disturb the natural and moral order.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield is in tumult: weapons like clubs and flaming firebrands are being thrown in all directions, creating a deafening roar and making the earth, with its mountains and forests, appear to tremble.