Shloka 4
अध्याय १४८ — कर्णप्रभावः, धृष्टद्युम्नस्य विरथता, तथा घटोत्कच-आह्वानम्
Chapter 148: Karṇa’s Pressure, Dhṛṣṭadyumna Unhorsed, and the Summoning of Ghaṭotkaca
आददानं महाराज संदधानं च पाण्डवम्,प्रलीनमीनमकरं सागराम्भ इवाभवत् | संजय कहते हैं--राजन्! उस समय अर्जुनके द्वारा खींचे जानेवाले गाण्डीव धनुषकी अत्यन्त भयंकर टंकार यमराजकी सुस्पष्ट गर्जना तथा इन्द्रके वज्रकी गड़गड़ाहटके समान जान पड़ती थी। उसे सुनकर आपकी सेना भयसे उद्विग्न हो बड़ी घबराहटमें पड़ गयी। उस समय उसकी दशा प्रलयकालकी आँधीसे क्षोभको प्राप्त एवं उत्ताल तरंगोंसे परिपूर्ण हुए उस महासागरके जलकी-सी हो गयी, जिसमें मछली और मगर आदि जलजन्तु छिप जाते हैं
ādādānaṃ mahārāja sandadhānaṃ ca pāṇḍavam, pralīna-mīna-makaraṃ sāgarāmbha ivābhavat |
Sañjaya said: O King, as the Pāṇḍava (Arjuna) took up his bow and fixed his arrows, your army became like the ocean at the time of cosmic dissolution—its waters churned by a devastating gale, filled with towering waves, in which fish and crocodiles hide away. The image conveys how the Kaurava host, shaken by fear at Arjuna’s martial readiness, lost composure and sought cover, as creatures do in a storm-tossed sea.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral-psychological truth that inner steadiness and preparedness in dharmic struggle can unsettle even a vast opposing force; fear spreads when confidence and discipline collapse, just as sea-creatures hide when the ocean is violently churned.
Sañjaya describes Arjuna taking up his bow and readying his arrows; the Kaurava army, hearing and sensing his formidable readiness, becomes panic-stricken and disordered, compared to an ocean in a pralaya-like storm where fish and crocodiles disappear into hiding.