Shloka 19
महाव्यूहप्रवर्तनम् / Deployment of the Great Battle Arrays
जैसे आदियुगमें देवताओं और दैत्योंके समूहद्वारा समुद्रके मथे जाते समय अत्यन्त घोर शब्द होता था, उसी प्रकार उस समय युद्धस्थलमें अपने धनुषोंकी टंकार करनेवाले राजाओंका अत्यन्त भयानक तुमुल शब्द प्रकट हो रहा था ।। तठुग्रनागं बहुरूपवर्ण तवात्मजानां समुदीर्णमेवम् बभूव सैन्यं रिपुसैन्यहन्तृ युगान्तमेघौघनिभं तदानीम्,महाराज! आपके पुत्रोंकी वह सेना भयंकर गजराजोंसे भरी थी। वह अनेक रूप- रंगोंकी दिखायी देती थी। उसका वेग बढ़ता ही जा रहा था। वह उस समय प्रलयकालके मेघसमुदायकी भाँति शत्रु-सेनाका संहार करनेमें समर्थ प्रतीत होती थी
sañjaya uvāca | yathā ādiyuge devatā-dānava-gaṇaiḥ samudre mathyamāne ’tyanta-ghoraḥ śabdo ’bhavat, tathā tadā raṇabhūmau sva-dhanuṣāṃ ṭaṅkāraṃ kurvatāṃ rājñāṃ sumahān bhayānakaḥ tumulaḥ śabdaḥ prādurabhavat || tathā ugra-nāgaṃ bahu-rūpa-varṇaṃ tavātmajānāṃ samudīrṇam evaṃ babhūva sainyaṃ ripu-sainya-hantṛ yugānta-meghaugha-nibhaṃ tadānīm, mahārāja ||
Sanjaya said: Just as in the primeval age, when the hosts of gods and demons churned the ocean, a most dreadful roar arose, so too at that time on the battlefield there burst forth a terrifying, tumultuous sound from the kings as they twanged their bows. And, O great king, your sons’ army—crowded with fierce lordly elephants, displaying many forms and colors, and surging forward—appeared then like a mass of end-of-age storm-clouds, capable of destroying the enemy host.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how war magnifies human pride and fear into a near-cosmic spectacle: the din of weapons and the surge of armies are likened to primordial and apocalyptic events, reminding the listener that martial power is transient and ultimately subject to time’s vast cycles.
Sanjaya describes to Dhritarashtra the overwhelming noise of kings twanging their bows and the formidable advance of the Kaurava host, dense with war-elephants and appearing like end-of-age storm clouds poised to annihilate the enemy army.