Shloka 256
उपायैः पूर्ववधकथनम् / Strategic Justifications for Prior Eliminations
फेत्कारैहेषितै: शब्दै: सर्वमेवाकुलं बभौ | मृदंग और ढोलोंकी आवाजसे, झाँझ और पटहोंकी ध्वनिसे तथा हाथी-घोड़ोंके फुंकार और हींसनेके शब्दोंसे वहाँका सब कुछ व्याप्त जान पड़ता था
phetkārair heṣitaiḥ śabdaiḥ sarvam evākulaṃ babhau |
Sañjaya berkata: Dengan pekik nyaring, ringkik kuda, dan hiruk-pikuk yang bertubi-tubi, segala sesuatu di sana tampak kacau. Dentum mridanga dan genderang, gemerincing simbal serta tabuh perang, ditambah terompet gajah dan ringkik kuda, memenuhi medan laga dari segala penjuru.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse is primarily descriptive rather than didactic: it underscores how war overwhelms the senses and the mind, producing collective agitation (ākulatā). In the Mahābhārata’s ethical horizon, such imagery implicitly warns that violence generates confusion and loss of clarity, making dharmic discernment harder amid tumult.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the battlefield scene in Droṇa Parva: the area is filled with loud cries and the sounds of animals and instruments—drums, kettledrums, cymbals—along with elephants’ trumpeting and horses’ neighing, so that everything seems engulfed in noise and disorder.