Shloka 19
उल्काश्च गगनात् पेतुर्दिशश्व॒ न चकाशिरे । तमश्न सहसा रौद्रं चमूमवततार ताम्,आकाशसे उल्काएँ गिरने लगीं, दिशाओंका प्रकाश लुप्त हो गया और उस सेनामें सहसा भयानक अन्धकार उतर आया
sañjaya uvāca |
ulkāś ca gaganāt petur diśaś ca na cakāśire |
tamaś ca sahasā raudraṁ camūm avatatarā tām ||
Sañjaya said: Meteors began to fall from the sky; the quarters no longer shone. And suddenly a fierce, dreadful darkness descended upon that army—an ominous sign that the war’s violence was reaching a terrifying pitch.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how nature itself is portrayed as reacting to extreme violence: ominous signs (meteors, darkness, loss of directional light) frame war as a moral and cosmic crisis, warning that adharma and unchecked fury invite भय (fear) and विनाश (ruin).
As Sañjaya narrates the battle to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, meteors fall, the quarters grow dim, and a sudden terrifying darkness covers the army—an inauspicious portent intensifying the scene’s dread.