Shloka 56
आपक्षुक्षुभिरे सर्वाश्चकम्पे च वसुंधरा । पर्वताश्च व्यशीर्यन्त दिशो नागाश्ष मोहिता:
āpakṣu-kṣubhire sarvāś cakampe ca vasundharā | parvatāś ca vyaśīryanta diśo nāgāś ca mohitāḥ ||
पक्षी आदि समस्त विहंगम व्याकुल हो उठे और वसुंधरा काँपने लगी। पर्वत फटने-टूटने लगे तथा दिशाएँ और महान् नाग भी मोहग्रस्त हो गए।
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse conveys that extreme violence and moral collapse in war are not merely human events; they reverberate through the cosmos. Nature’s trembling and confusion functions as an ethical mirror, implying that adharma destabilizes the world-order (ṛta/dharma) itself.
Vyāsa describes ominous portents: birds are in frantic upheaval, the earth shakes, mountains crack, the directions seem disturbed, and even the Nāgas are bewildered. These signs heighten the sense that a decisive, catastrophic moment in the Kurukṣetra war is underway.