Shloka 63
Adhyāya 65: Dawn Assembly, Makara–Śyena Vyūhas, and Commander Engagements
यथा पशाूनां संघातं यष्ट्या पाल: प्रकालयेत् । तभा भीमो गजानीकं गदया समकालयत्,जैसे चरवाहा पशुओंके झुंडको डंडेसे हाँकता है, उसी प्रकार भीमसेन हाथियोंके समूहको अपनी गदासे हाँक रहे थे
sañjaya uvāca | yathā paśūnāṃ saṃghātaṃ yaṣṭyā pālaḥ prakālayet | tathā bhīmo gajānīkaṃ gadayā samakālayat ||
Sañjaya said: Just as a herdsman drives a mass of cattle with his staff, so Bhīma, with his mace, was driving back and scattering the elephant-corps. The image underscores the brutal asymmetry of battlefield power: disciplined force, when wielded without hesitation, can turn even mighty war-elephants into a panicked herd—an ethically sobering reminder of how war reduces living beings to instruments and targets.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a pastoral simile to highlight how overwhelming martial strength can rout even formidable forces like war-elephants. Ethically, it points to war’s dehumanizing (and de-animalizing) logic: living beings become units to be driven, scattered, and destroyed, urging reflection on the cost of violence even when performed as kṣatriya duty.
Sañjaya describes Bhīma on the battlefield striking and dispersing the enemy’s elephant formation with his mace, likening his action to a herdsman driving a herd with a staff.