Shloka 20
संग्रामे भीष्ममासाद्य व्यादितास्यमिवान्तकम् । निमग्ना: परलोकाय सवाजिरथकुज्जरा:
saṅgrāme bhīṣmam āsādya vyāditāsyam ivāntakam | nimagnāḥ paralokāya savājirathakuñjarāḥ ||
Sañjaya berkata: Di tengah pertempuran, ketika mereka berhadapan dengan Bhīṣma—laksana Maut dengan rahang menganga—para kesatria, bersama kuda, kereta, dan gajah mereka, seakan-akan tertelan dan tenggelam menuju alam baka.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the inevitability of death in war and the ethical weight of martial action: when a formidable warrior becomes like personified Death, combatants are reminded that violence swiftly turns into irreversible consequence, dissolving pride into mortality.
Sañjaya reports that warriors who confronted Bhīṣma on the battlefield were overwhelmed as if swallowed by Death itself—falling along with their mounts and war machines (horses, chariots, elephants), suggesting massive destruction under Bhīṣma’s onslaught.