Shloka 14

Devanagari script

उद्यतप्रतिपिष्टानां खड्गानां वीरबाहुभि: । स एव शब्दस्तद्रूपो वाससां निज्यतामिव,शूरवीरोंके हाथोंमें उठकर विपक्षी योद्धाओंके शस्त्रोंसे टकराये हुए खड्गोंका शब्द वैसा ही जान पड़ता था, जैसे धोबियोंके पटहोंपर पीटे जानेवाले कपड़ोंका शब्द होता है

Transliteration

udyata-pratipiṣṭānāṁ khaḍgānāṁ vīra-bāhubhiḥ | sa eva śabdas tad-rūpo vāsasāṁ nijyatām iva ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: The very sound made by swords, raised aloft and struck together by the mighty arms of heroic warriors, seemed of that same character—like the thudding noise of garments being beaten and washed by washermen. Thus the battlefield’s clangor is rendered as a familiar, domestic sound, underscoring how war turns human skill and strength into relentless, impersonal impact.

Word by Word

उद्यतraised, lifted up

प्रतिपिष्टानाम्of (those) struck/pressed against (each other)

खड्गानाम्of swords

वीरबाहुभिःby the hero-armed (warriors) / by strong arms of heroes

सःthat

एवindeed, just

शब्दःsound

तद्रूपःof that form; similar to that

वाससाम्of garments/clothes

निज्यताम्of (clothes) being washed/cleaned

इवlike, as if

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

khaḍga (swords)

vīra-bāhu (heroic arms)

vāsas (garments/clothes)

washermen (implied by laundering imagery)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how the din of war can become mechanically repetitive and eerily familiar—so much so that it is compared to an everyday sound. Ethically, it suggests the unsettling normalization of violence: heroic strength produces not only glory but also relentless, impersonal destruction.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya is describing the battle’s sensory intensity. He reports that swords, lifted and clashed by powerful warriors, made a sound resembling the beating of clothes during washing—conveying continuous, heavy impacts across the battlefield.