Shloka 29
हयाक्ष चामरापीडा: प्रासपाणिभिरास्थिता: । चोदिता: सादिद्ि: क्षिप्रं निपेतुरितरेतरम्,चामरभूषित अश्व प्रासधारी सवारोंसे संचालित हो तुरंत ही एक-दूसरेपर टूट पड़ते थे
hayāś ca cāmarāpīḍāḥ prāsapāṇibhir āsthitāḥ | coditāḥ sādibhiḥ kṣipraṃ nipetur itaretaram ||
Sañjaya said: The horses, adorned with yak-tail fans, and the spear-bearers mounted upon them—urged on swiftly by their charioteers—rushed at once and fell upon one another. Thus the battle’s momentum, driven by command and skill, turned living beings into instruments of violent collision, revealing the grim ethical cost of war even amid martial splendor.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how, in war, splendor and discipline (ornamented mounts, trained spear-bearers, swift driving) can still culminate in mutual destruction. It implicitly invites reflection on the moral burden of conflict: skill and command do not erase the suffering produced when beings are driven into violence.
Sañjaya reports a rapid cavalry clash: horses decorated with cāmaras, carrying spear-wielding riders, are urged forward by their drivers and immediately charge into one another, beginning or intensifying close combat.