Shloka 22
Cakravyūha-saṃkalpaḥ, Saṃśaptaka-āhvānaṃ, Saubhadra-vikrīḍitam
Drona Parva, Adhyāya 32
रथिना ताडितो नागो नाराचेनापतत् क्षितौ,किसी रथीने नाराचके द्वारा गजराजपर आघात किया और वह धराशायी हो गया। किसी हाथीके वेगपूर्वक आघात करनेपर सवारसहित घोड़ा धरतीपर ढेर हो गया। इस प्रकार वहाँ मर्यादाशून्य अत्यन्त भयंकर एवं महान् युद्ध होने लगा
sañjaya uvāca | rathinā tāḍito nāgo nārācena apatat kṣitau |
Sañjaya said: Struck by a chariot-warrior with a nārāca arrow, the great elephant collapsed upon the earth. Thus, as mounts and riders were felled by force and missile alike, a dreadful and vast battle arose there—one that had slipped beyond all bounds of restraint, revealing the ethical breakdown that accompanies unbridled violence in war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how warfare, once it loses restraint (maryādā), rapidly becomes indiscriminate and terrifying. It implicitly warns that when ethical limits collapse, even the mighty—war-elephants, horses, and their riders—are reduced to helplessness, highlighting the Mahābhārata’s recurring concern with dharma under the pressures of conflict.
Sañjaya describes a battlefield moment in which a chariot-warrior strikes a great elephant with a nārāca missile, causing it to fall to the ground. The scene conveys the intensifying ferocity of the fighting, with mounts and warriors being brought down amid a chaotic, boundary-less clash.