Shloka 1736
उपायैः पूर्ववधकथनम् / Strategic Justifications for Prior Eliminations
न्यवेदयन् भयं घोरं सज्वालकवलै मुख: । उस घोर रजनीमें सब ओर कोलाहल करती हुई सियारिनें अपने मुँहले आग उगलती हुई घोर भयकी सूचना दे रही थीं
nyavedayan bhayaṃ ghoraṃ sajvālaka-valaiḥ mukhaḥ | asyāṃ ghorāyāṃ rajanyāṃ sarvato kolāhalaṃ kurvantyaḥ śiāriṇyaḥ svamukhair agnim ugalantya iva ghora-bhayasya sūcanāṃ dadur iti |
Sañjaya said: In that dreadful night, jackals raised a tumult on every side, as though their mouths were spitting fire. By these terrifying portents they announced a great and imminent fear—an ominous sign of the moral and physical ruin that war brings when dharma is eclipsed.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses ominous natural signs to underline an ethical warning: when violence and adharma dominate, the world itself seems to mirror the coming catastrophe, reminding listeners that war’s momentum brings collective suffering and moral collapse.
Sañjaya reports terrifying portents during a dreadful night: jackals howl and create uproar everywhere, appearing as if they spit fire, thereby foretelling imminent danger and calamity in the ongoing war.