Shloka 18
Bhīmasena’s Kalinga Engagement and the Approach of Bhīṣma (भीमसेन-कालिङ्ग-संग्रामः)
गदामुसलरुग्णानां भिन्नानां च वरासिभि: | दन्तिदन्तावभिन्नानां मृदितानां च दन्तिभि:
sañjaya uvāca | gadāmusalarugṇānāṃ bhinnānāṃ ca varāsibhiḥ | dantidantāvabhinnānāṃ mṛditānāṃ ca dantibhiḥ ||
Sañjaya berkata—di medan perang itu, banyak prajurit remuk anggota tubuhnya oleh hantaman gada dan pentung; banyak pula tertebas tercerai-berai oleh pedang-pedang unggul; banyak yang terkoyak oleh gading gajah, dan banyak yang tergilas di bawah berat tubuh gajah. Maka, kelompok-kelompok pejuang yang tak terhitung, setengah mati, saling memanggil satu sama lain. Wahai Bhārata, ratapan mereka yang mengerikan terdengar bagaikan hiruk-pikuk para arwah.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the concrete suffering produced by warfare—maiming, dismemberment, trampling—thereby sharpening the ethical tension in the epic: even when war is framed as dharma for kṣatriyas, its reality is mass anguish, demanding sober moral reflection rather than triumphalism.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the scene on the battlefield: warriors are broken by maces and clubs, cut down by swords, ripped by elephants’ tusks, and crushed under elephants, while the half-dead cry out in terrifying lamentation.