Shloka 25
इड्गुदैर्बदरीभिश्न कोविदारैश्न पुष्पितै: । पलाशैक्षारिमेदैश्व प्लक्षन्यग्रोधपिप्पलै:,भारत! तत्पश्चात् वे एक-दूसरेपर नाना प्रकारके अस्त्र-शस्त्रोंकी वर्षा करने लगे। लोहेके परिघ, शूल, गदा, मुसल, मुद्गर, पिनाक, खड्ग, तोमर, प्रास, कम्पन, तीखे नाराच, भलल, बाण, चक्र, फरसे, लोहेकी गोली, भिन्दिपाल, गोशीर्ष, उलूखल, बड़ी-बड़ी शाखाओंवाले उखाड़े हुए नाना प्रकारके वृक्ष--शमी, पीलु, कदम्ब, चम्पा, इंगुद, बेर, विकसित कोविदार, पलाश, अरिमेद, बड़े-बड़े पाकड़, बरगद और पीपल--इन सबके द्वारा उस महासमरमें वे एक-दूसरेपर चोट करने लगे। नाना प्रकारकी धातुओंसे व्याप्त विशाल पर्वतशिखरोंद्वारा भी वे परस्पर आघात करते थे
iṅgudair badarībhiś ca kovidāraiś ca puṣpitaiḥ | palāśair arimedaiś ca plakṣa-nyagrodha-pippalaiḥ, bhārata |
Sañjaya said: “O Bhārata, thereafter they began to shower one another with a bewildering variety of weapons. With iron clubs and bars, tridents, maces, pestles and hammers, swords, spears and lances, sharp nārācas, bhallas and arrows, discs, axes, iron balls, bhindipālas, gośīrṣa missiles, mortars, and even uprooted trees with great branches—śamī, pīlu, kadamba, campaka, iṅguda, jujube, flowering kovidāra, palāśa, arimeda, and huge plakṣa, nyagrodha and pippala—they struck each other in that great battle. They also battered one another with massive mountain-peaks filled with many kinds of minerals.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how war, once unleashed, tends to escalate beyond restraint: not only crafted weapons but even nature (trees, mountain-peaks) is turned into an instrument of harm. Implicitly it warns that violence corrodes limits and draws everything into its destructive logic, challenging the ideal of righteous (dharma-guided) combat.
Sañjaya describes a phase of the battle where the opposing forces attack each other with an overwhelming barrage—standard weapons alongside improvised missiles like uprooted trees and even mountain-peaks—conveying the ferocity and near-uncontrolled intensity of the fighting.