Shloka 12
तद् युद्धमभवद् घोरं सुमहल्लोमहर्षणम् । त्वदीयै: पाण्डुपुत्राणां देवानामिव दानवै:,राजन! फिर तो दानवोंके साथ देवताओंकी भाँति आपके सैनिकोंके साथ पाण्डवोंका अत्यन्त भयंकर युद्ध छिड़ गया, जो रोंगटे खड़े कर देनेवाला था
tad yuddham abhavad ghoraṃ sumahal lomaharṣaṇam | tvadīyaiḥ pāṇḍuputrāṇāṃ devānām iva dānavaiḥ, rājan |
Sañjaya said: Then there arose a battle—terrible, vast, and hair-raising—between the sons of Pāṇḍu and your warriors, O King, like the clash of the gods with the dānavas. The simile frames the conflict as a cosmic-scale confrontation, intensifying the moral weight of a war in which kin fight kin under the pressure of duty, loyalty, and fate.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the overwhelming, almost cosmic intensity of war and hints at its ethical gravity: when duty and allegiance harden into total conflict, the struggle can resemble mythic battles of devas and dānavas—suggesting that human choices in war carry consequences beyond the immediate battlefield.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a fierce and massive battle has erupted between the Pāṇḍavas and the Kaurava forces, describing it as so terrifying that it raises goosebumps, and comparing it to the legendary wars between gods and dānavas.