Shloka 366
Droṇa’s Withdrawal, Death, and the Kaurava Rout (द्रोणनिधन-प्रसङ्गः)
शस्त्रौघवर्ष रुधिराम्बुधारं निशि प्रवृत्तं रणदुर्दिनं तत् । रातमें होनेवाला वह युद्ध मेघोंकी घटासे आच्छादित दिनके समान प्रतीत होता था। उस समय शक्तियोंका समूह प्रचण्डवायुके समान चल रहा था। विशाल रथ मेघसमूहके समान दिखायी देते थे। हाथियों और घोड़ोंके हींसने और चिग्घाड़नेका शब्द ही मानो मेघोंका गम्भीर गर्जन था। अस्त्रसमूहोंकी वर्षा ही जलकी वृष्टि थी तथा रक्तकी धारा ही जलधाराके समान जान पड़ती थी
sañjaya uvāca | śastraughavarṣa-rudhirāmbu-dhāraṃ niśi pravṛttaṃ raṇa-durdinaṃ tat |
Sañjaya said: That night-battle, set in motion like a day of storm, seemed as though the sky were covered with war-clouds. The massed weapons flew like a fierce wind; great chariots loomed like banks of clouds; the neighing of horses and the trumpeting of elephants sounded like deep thunder. The shower of missiles was like rainfall, and the streams of blood ran like torrents of water—an image of war’s dreadful excess, where valor and duty unfold amid overwhelming destruction.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse offers a moral-psychological warning through imagery: war, even when entered under claims of duty, rapidly becomes an uncontrollable storm that overwhelms all—turning weapons into rain and blood into water. It underscores the catastrophic cost of adharma-driven conflict and the need for restraint and right judgment.
Sañjaya narrates a night engagement in the Drona Parva, portraying the battlefield as a stormy day: missiles fall like rain, chariots appear like clouds, animal cries resemble thunder, and blood flows like torrents—emphasizing the intensity and horror of the fighting.