Shloka 356
महद् बल व्यूढरथाश्वनागं सुरासुरव्यूहसमं बभूव । रथ, घोड़े और हाथियोंसे परिपूर्ण, प्रदीपोंकी प्रभासे प्रकाशित, रोषमें भरे हुए योद्धाओंसे युक्त, घायल होकर भागनेवाले घोड़ोंसे उपलक्षित तथा व्यूहबद्ध रथ, घोड़े एवं हाथियोंसे सम्पन्न दोनों पक्षोंका वह महान् सैन्यसमूह देवताओं और असुरोंके सैन्यव्यूहके समान जान पड़ता था
sañjaya uvāca | mahad bala-vyūḍha-rathāśva-nāgaṃ surāsura-vyūha-samaṃ babhūva |
Sañjaya said: The vast host—arrayed in battle-formation and filled with chariots, horses, and elephants—appeared like the famed formations of gods and demons. Lit by blazing lamps and driven by warriors aflame with wrath, it was marked by wounded, panic-stricken horses in flight; yet, in its ordered ranks of chariots, cavalry, and elephants, both armies stood as a single immense spectacle of war, terrible and awe-inspiring.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral tension of war: even when armies are meticulously ordered into formations, the lived reality includes fear, injury, and uncontrolled anger. It implicitly contrasts outward discipline (vyūha) with inner turbulence (krodha), reminding the listener that martial grandeur can mask profound suffering.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield scene in the Droṇa Parva: both sides’ forces are massed in formation with chariots, horses, and elephants. The spectacle is so immense and intense that it resembles the mythic clash of gods and demons, with lamps blazing and wounded horses fleeing amid the fury of combatants.