Shloka 23
मुनिदेशात् परश्रैव प्रोच्यते दुन्दुभिस्वन: । सिद्धचारणसंकीर्णो गौरप्रायो जनाधिप
munideśāt paraś caiva procyate dundubhisvanaḥ | siddhacāraṇasaṅkīrṇo gauraprāyo janādhipa ||
Sañjaya said: “O lord of men, from the region of the sages and from elsewhere as well, there is heard a sound like the beating of a great war-drum—an auspicious, deep resonance—amidst a throng of Siddhas and Cāraṇas, with a bright, whitish radiance prevailing.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how momentous actions—especially war undertaken by kings—are framed by larger cosmic and moral atmospheres: signs, proclamations, and the witnessing presence of higher beings. It hints that human conflict is not merely private ambition but a public, ethically weighty event observed and judged in a wider order.
Sañjaya reports to the king that a powerful, drum-like sound is being heard from the direction associated with sages and other quarters, in a scene crowded with celestial Siddhas and Cāraṇas. The description functions as an omen-like, heightened prelude to the great battle setting.