Shloka 9
Adhyāya 140: Rātriyuddhe Droṇa-prāpti-prayatnaḥ
Night engagement and the attempt to reach Droṇa
वारणै: पतितै राजन् वाजिभिश्न नरै: सह । अदृश्यत मही कीर्णा वातभग्नैरिव द्रुमै:,राजन! वहाँ गिरे हुए हाथियों, घोड़ों और पैदल मनुष्योंद्वारा ढकी हुई वह रणभूमि आँधीके उखाड़े हुए वृक्षोंसे आच्छादित-सी दिखायी देती थी
vāraṇaiḥ patitai rājann vājibhiś ca naraiḥ saha | adṛśyata mahī kīrṇā vātabhagnair iva drumaiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: O King, the earth was seen strewn with fallen elephants, horses, and foot-soldiers. That battlefield looked as though it were covered with trees torn down by a violent wind—an image that underscores the ruin and moral weight of war’s destruction.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a stark simile—trees uprooted by a storm—to convey the scale of devastation in war, implicitly warning that even mighty beings fall when violence overwhelms dharma and restraint.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield ground is covered with the fallen—elephants, horses, and infantry—so densely that it resembles a landscape littered with storm-felled trees.