Shloka 886
अध्याय १४८ — कर्णप्रभावः, धृष्टद्युम्नस्य विरथता, तथा घटोत्कच-आह्वानम्
Chapter 148: Karṇa’s Pressure, Dhṛṣṭadyumna Unhorsed, and the Summoning of Ghaṭotkaca
आनाभि निरमज्जंक्ष रथचक्राणि शोणिते । समस्त प्राणियोंके प्रॉलयकालके समान जब वह महाभीषण अत्यन्त दारुण महान् एवं दुर्लड़घ्य संग्राम चल रहा था, उस समय रक्तकी वर्षासे और वायुके वेगपूर्वक चलनेसे रुधिरसे भीगे हुए धरातलकी धूल शान्त हो गयी। रथके पहिये नाभितक खूनमें डूबे हुए थे
sañjaya uvāca | ānābhi niramajjakṣa rathacakrāṇi śoṇite | samasta-prāṇināṁ pralaya-kāla-samāne yadā sa mahābhīṣaṇo 'tyanta-dāruṇo mahān durlaṅghyaś ca saṅgrāmo vartamāna āsīt, tadā raktavarṣeṇa vāyoś ca vegena rudhira-sikta-dharātala-rajo 'pi śāntaṁ babhūva | rathasya cakrāṇi nābhi-paryantaṁ rakte nimagnāni āsan |
Sanjaya said: The chariot-wheels sank in the blood up to their hubs. When that vast, terrifying, and exceedingly cruel battle—hard to cross like the very time of dissolution for all creatures—was raging, the rain of blood and the force of the wind laid the dust of the blood-soaked earth to rest. The wheels of the chariots were submerged in gore up to the nave, revealing a war that had slipped beyond ordinary human measure and into a vision of collective ruin.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses pralaya-like imagery to show how unchecked warfare collapses ordinary moral and human limits; it implicitly warns that adharma-driven conflict produces collective ruin, where even nature (dust, wind, rain) seems to participate in the devastation.
Sanjaya describes the battlefield at a peak of carnage: blood is so abundant that chariot-wheels sink up to their hubs, and the dust on the ground—normally raised by movement—has settled because the earth is drenched with blood and driven by strong winds and a 'rain of blood.'