Shloka 37
Bhagadatta’s Advance, the Saṃśaptaka Challenge, and Arjuna’s Counterstrike (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय २६)
सपक्षयो: पर्वतयोर्यथा सद्रुमयो: पुरा । वे दोनों हाथी बड़े भयंकर रूपवाले थे। उन दोनोंका युद्ध वैसा ही प्रतीत हुआ, जैसा कि पूर्वकालमें पंखयुक्त एवं वृक्षावलीसे विभूषित दो पर्वतोंमें युद्ध हुआ करता था || ३६६ || प्राग्ज्योतिषपतेरनाग: संनिवृत्यापसृत्य च
sapakṣayoḥ parvatayor yathā sadrumayoḥ purā | prāgjyotiṣapater anāgaḥ saṁnivṛtyāpasṛtya ca ||
Sañjaya said: “Just as, in ancient times, two winged mountains thick with trees were said to clash, so did the battle of those two elephants appear—terrible in form, surging forward and then drawing back again. And the elephant of the lord of Prāgjyotiṣa, now closing in and now retreating, continued the fight.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse primarily offers a poetic war-simile rather than a direct moral injunction: it highlights the overwhelming, almost cosmic scale of violence in battle, reminding the listener that martial power can resemble forces of nature—magnificent yet destructive—thus inviting reflection on the gravity of war and the responsibility of rulers and warriors.
Sañjaya describes a fierce duel between two terrifying war-elephants. Their charging and withdrawing is compared to the legendary clash of two winged, tree-covered mountains. He then specifies that the elephant belonging to the king of Prāgjyotiṣa (Bhagadatta) repeatedly closes in and retreats as the combat continues.