Shloka 22
समभ्यधावंस्त्वरिताश्रित्रकार्मुकधारिण: । सात्यकि, भीमसेन, ट्रुपदकुमार धृष्टद्युम्न, विराट, द्रुपद, राक्षस घटोत्कव और अभिमन्यु--ये सात वीर क्रोधसे मूर्च्छित हो तुरंत ही विचित्र धनुष धारण किये वहाँ दौड़े आये || २०-२१ है ।। तेषां समभवद् युद्ध तुमुलं लोमहर्षणम्,अताडयन् रणे भीष्मं सहिता: सर्वसृञज्जया: । समस्त सूंजय वीर एक साथ संगठित हो भयंकर शतघ्नी, परिघ, फरसे, मुद्गर, मुसल, प्रास, गोफन, स्वर्णमय पंखवाले बाण, शक्ति, तोमर, कम्पन, नाराच, वत्सदन््त और भुशुण्डी आदि अस्त्र-शस्त्रोंद्वारा रणभूमिमें भीष्मको सब ओरसे पीड़ा देने लगे
sañjaya uvāca | samabhyadhāvaṁs tvaritāśritakārmukadhāriṇaḥ—sātyakiḥ, bhīmasenaḥ, drupadakumāro dhṛṣṭadyumnaḥ, virāṭaḥ, drupadaḥ, rākṣaso ghaṭotkacaḥ, abhimanyuś ca—ete vīrāḥ krodhasaṁmūrcchitāḥ kṣipram eva vicitradhanurdharāḥ tatra dhāvamānāḥ || teṣāṁ samabhavad yuddhaṁ tumulaṁ lomaharṣaṇam | atāḍayan raṇe bhīṣmaṁ sahitāḥ sarvasṛñjayāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Then, bearing their bows and rushing with speed, Sātyaki, Bhīmasena, Drupada’s son Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Virāṭa, Drupada, the rākṣasa Ghaṭotkaca, and Abhimanyu—these heroes, maddened with wrath and wielding wondrous bows—ran straight to that place. From their onset there arose a tumultuous, hair-raising battle. United as the Sṛñjayas, they struck Bhīṣma in the fight from every side, pressing him hard with a coordinated assault—an image of war’s grim ethic: disciplined collective effort set against a single, formidable elder whose duty binds him to the Kuru cause.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the tension between righteous duty and the destructive force of anger: warriors act within kṣatriya-dharma (organized, united assault in war), yet the text also marks the psychological cost—krodha (wrath) driving action and the battle becoming ‘lomaharṣaṇa,’ a reminder of war’s terrifying moral weight.
A group of seven prominent Pāṇḍava-aligned heroes—Sātyaki, Bhīma, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Virāṭa, Drupada, Ghaṭotkaca, and Abhimanyu—charge together and engage Bhīṣma. Their coordinated attack produces a fierce, tumultuous clash as they attempt to overwhelm the Kuru commander from all sides.