Shloka 34
Adhyāya 112: Bhīṣma-prati Arjunasya Pravṛttiḥ
Arjuna’s Forward Drive Toward Bhīṣma
हत्वा दश सहस्राणि कुठ्जराणां तरस्विनाम् | सारोहाणां महाराज हयानां चायुतं तथा,महाराज! सवारोंसहित दस हजार वेगशाली हाथियों, उतने ही घोड़ों और घुड़सवारों तथा दो लाख पैदल सैनिकोंको नरश्रेष्ठ भीष्मने रणभूमिमें धूमरहित अग्निकी भाँति फूँक डाला
sañjaya uvāca | hatvā daśa sahasrāṇi kuñjarāṇāṃ tarasvinām | sārohāṇāṃ mahārāja hayānāṃ cāyutaṃ tathā ||
Sañjaya said: “O King, having slain ten thousand swift elephants with their riders, and likewise an ayuta (ten thousand) of horses, Bhīṣma’s onslaught on the battlefield was like a consuming fire—an image of war’s relentless force, where prowess and duty are asserted through devastating violence.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s tension between kṣatriya-duty and the moral cost of war: martial excellence is praised as dharma in battle, yet the scale of killing evokes the destructive, consuming nature of conflict.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra the battlefield carnage: vast numbers of elephants with riders and horses are slain, highlighting the intensity of the fighting and the overwhelming force of the leading warrior’s assault.