Shloka 10
उत्पातवर्णनम् (Utpāta-varṇanam) — Catalogue of Portents
अन्योन्यमभिमृद्नन्ति नगराणि युयुत्सव: । पद्मोत्पलानि वृक्षेषु जायन्ते कुमुदानि च,और कृत्रिम नगर बनाकर परस्पर युद्धकी इच्छा रखते हुए उन नगरोंको रौंदकर मिट्टीमें मिला देते हैं। पद्य, उत्पल और कुमुद आदि जलीय पुष्प वृक्षोंपर पैदा होते हैं
anyonyam abhimṛdnanti nagarāṇi yuyutsavaḥ | padmotpalāni vṛkṣeṣu jāyante kumudāni ca ||
Vyāsa describes a world turned upside down: those eager for fighting trample and crush one another’s cities into dust, and even nature seems inverted—lotuses, blue lotuses, and white water-lilies are said to grow upon trees. The verse conveys the moral disarray that accompanies the approach of great war, when human aggression and cosmic order alike appear distorted.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
When society is seized by the desire for conflict, normal ethical restraints collapse and even the sense of natural order feels inverted; the verse uses striking imagery to signal the approach of catastrophic war and the spread of adharma.
Vyāsa is describing ominous, unnatural signs and the belligerent mood of people: fighters crush cities as if in play or frenzy, and impossible natural phenomena are reported—water-flowers appearing on trees—indicating a world moving toward the Kurukṣetra war.