Shloka 42
Adhyāya 74 (Book 6, Bhīṣma-parva): Bhīma–Duryodhana re-engagement and afternoon escalation
तेषां तथा कर्षतां तु गजानां रूपमाबभौ | सर:सु नलिनीजालं विषक्तमिव कर्षताम्
teṣāṃ tathā karṣatāṃ tu gajānāṃ rūpam ābabhau | saraḥsu nalinījālaṃ viṣaktam iva karṣatām ||
Sañjaya said: As those elephants strained and dragged on, their appearance became like a tangled net of lotus-stalks caught in the lakes—an image of mighty strength hindered by entanglement amid the press of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how even great power can be checked by entanglement and adverse conditions; in war, strength alone does not guarantee freedom of action, and confusion can bind the mighty like a net.
Sañjaya describes elephants in the battle struggling as they pull and strain; their clustered, hindered movement is compared to lotus-stalks tangled together in a lake.