Shloka 7
युगान्ताग्निसमप्रख्य: परेषां समपद्यत । वे शत्रुओंके लिये प्रलयकालकी अग्निके समान अदभुत तेजसे प्रज्वलित हो उठे। धनुष और बाण ही धधकती हुई आग थे। अस्त्रोंका प्रसार ही वायुका सहारा था। रथोंके पहियोंकी घरघराहट उस आगकी आँच थी। बड़े-बड़े अस्त्रोंका प्राकट्य अंगारके समान था। विचित्र चाप ही उस आगकी प्रचण्ड ज्वालाओंके समान था। बड़े-बड़े वीर ही ईंधनके समान उसमें गिरकर भस्म हो रहे थे ।। विवृत्य रथसड्घानामन्तरेण विनि:सृत:,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
yugāntāgnisamaprakhyaḥ pareṣāṃ samapadyata | sa śatrūṇāṃ pralayakālāgnisamaṃ adbhuta-tejasā prajvalito ’bhavat | dhanur-bāṇau dhak-dhakāyamānāv iva vahniḥ | astraprasāra eva vāyu-sahāyaḥ | ratha-cakra-ghoṣaḥ tasya agneḥ āñcaḥ | mahāstrāṇāṃ prākaṭyaṃ aṅgāra-sadṛśam | vicitra-cāpāḥ pracaṇḍa-jvālā-samāḥ | mahā-vīrāḥ eva indhana-samāḥ tatra patitvā bhasmībhavanti || vivṛtya ratha-saṅghānām antareṇa viniḥsṛtaḥ | atāḍayan raṇe bhīṣmaṃ sahitāḥ sarva-sṛñjayāḥ | śataghnyā parighaiḥ paraśubhiḥ mudgaraiḥ musalaiḥ prāsaiḥ gophanaiḥ suvarṇa-pakṣa-bāṇaiḥ śaktyā tomaraiḥ kampanaiḥ nārācaiḥ vatsadantaiḥ bhuśuṇḍībhiś ca sarvataḥ pīḍayām āsuḥ ||
Sañjaya said: He advanced upon the enemy like the fire that blazes at the end of an age. For his foes he flared up with astonishing radiance, like the conflagration of dissolution. His bow and arrows seemed like a roaring flame; the very spread of his missiles was as the wind that feeds that fire; the rumbling of chariot-wheels was its scorching heat. The appearance of mighty weapons was like glowing embers, and his wondrous bows were like fierce tongues of flame. Great warriors themselves, like fuel, fell into it and were consumed. Breaking through the intervals between the masses of chariots, all the Sṛñjayas together struck Bhīṣma in battle, tormenting him from every side with dreadful śataghnīs, iron clubs and bars, axes, maces, pestles, spears, slings, arrows with golden wings, śaktis, tomaras, kampanas, nārācas, vatsadantas, and bhuśuṇḍīs—an image of war’s consuming power where valor becomes both duty and destruction.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how war, even when pursued as kṣatriya-duty, becomes a consuming force: valor and weapon-skill can resemble cosmic destruction. Ethically, it invites reflection on the tension between dharma as obligation in battle and the catastrophic, dehumanizing momentum of violence.
Sañjaya describes a warrior’s onslaught likened to end-of-age fire, then narrates how the Sṛñjaya fighters, acting together, break through chariot formations and assail Bhīṣma from all sides with a wide array of missiles and heavy weapons, causing him intense pressure in the fight.