Shloka 35
Aśvatthāmā’s Lamentation, Vow of Retaliation, and the Manifestation of the Nārāyaṇāstra (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय १६६)
पाण्डुपाञज्चालसैन्यानां कौरवाणां च भारत | आसीजक्निष्टानको घोरो निघ्नतामितरेतरम्,भारत! एक ओरसे पाण्डव और पांचाल-सैनिकोंका और दूसरी ओरसे कौरव योद्धाओंका, जो एक-दूसरेपर गहरी चोट कर रहे थे, घोर आर्तनाद सुनायी पड़ता था
sañjaya uvāca |
pāṇḍupāñcālasainyānāṃ kauravāṇāṃ ca bhārata |
āsīj janisṭānako ghoro nighnatām itaretaram ||
Sañjaya said: O Bhārata, as the Pāṇḍava and Pāñcāla troops on one side and the Kaurava warriors on the other struck one another down, a dreadful, heart-rending tumult of cries arose—an audible sign of the war’s moral collapse into mutual slaughter.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the human cost of adharma-driven conflict: when armies abandon restraint and strike each other down indiscriminately, the battlefield becomes defined not by heroism but by the collective cry of suffering—an ethical warning about the consequences of unchecked violence.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the Pāṇḍava–Pāñcāla forces and the Kauravas are locked in fierce close combat, mutually killing and wounding; from this, a terrifying uproar of distress rises across the field.