Shloka 17
तयो: समभवद् युद्ध नरराक्षसयोर्मथे । यादृगेव पुरा वृत्तं रामरावणयोरनप,राजन! पूर्वकालमें जिस प्रकार श्रीराम और रावणका संग्राम हुआ था, उसी प्रकार उस रणक्षेत्रमें मानव भीमसेन तथा राक्षस अलम्बुषका युद्ध हुआ
tayoḥ samabhavad yuddhaṁ nara-rākṣasayor mathe | yādṛg eva purā vṛttaṁ rāma-rāvaṇayor anupa rājan ||
Sañjaya said: Between those two, in the thick of battle, there arose a fight between a man and a rākṣasa. O King, it was like the ancient combat that once took place between Rāma and Rāvaṇa—so, on that battlefield, the human Bhīmasena and the rākṣasa Alambuṣa engaged in war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a present conflict through an earlier epic paradigm (Rāma–Rāvaṇa), implying that battles are not merely physical contests but moral narratives: the human champion stands as a force of dharma against a destructive, rākṣasa-like adversary.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a fierce duel has erupted on the battlefield: Bhīmasena fights the rākṣasa Alambuṣa, and the intensity is likened to the famed war between Rāma and Rāvaṇa.