Shloka 396

Devanagari script

तस्मिन्नेव पदे यत्ता निगृह्नन्ति सम भारत । भरतनन्दन! मदस्रावी विशाल हाथी मदकी धारा बहानेवाले दूसरे गजराजोंसे सहसा भिड़कर एक-दूसरेको यत्नपूर्वक काबूमें कर लेते थे

Transliteration

tasminneva pade yattā nigṛhṇanti sma bhārata | bharatanandana! madasrāvī viśāla-hastī mada-kī dhārā bahānevale dvitīya gajarājaiḥ sahasā bhiḍitvā anyonyaṃ yatnapūrvakaṃ kābūṃ meṃ kar lete sma |

Translation

Sañjaya said: “Right there on the same ground, O Bhārata—O joy of the Bharatas—those great elephants, streaming with rut and pouring forth torrents of must, suddenly clashed with other lordly elephants and strove with all their might to bring one another under control.”

Word by Word

तस्मिन्in that

एवindeed/just

पदेin the step/place

यत्ताstriving/intent

निगृह्णन्तिthey restrain/hold back

सम्together/fully

भारतO Bharata

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by vocatives Bhārata/Bharatanandana)

gajarājāḥ (mighty elephants)

viśāla-hastī (a huge elephant)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the raw force and frenzy of war through the image of musth-elephants struggling to subdue one another; ethically, it underscores how battle amplifies overpowering impulses and the contest for control—both literal (restraining an opponent) and symbolic (the difficulty of restraint amid violence).

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a moment in the battle where massive, rutting elephants collide with other great elephants and grapple intensely, each trying to overpower and restrain the other on the spot.