Shloka 25
Cakravyūha-saṃkalpaḥ, Saṃśaptaka-āhvānaṃ, Saubhadra-vikrīḍitam
Drona Parva, Adhyāya 32
इत्येवमुच्चरन्ति सम श्रूयन्ते विविधा गिर: । उस समय सभी सैनिक “हा तात! हा पुत्र! सखे! तुम कहाँ हो? ठहरो, कहाँ भागे जा रहे हो? मारो, लाओ, इसका वध कर डालो'--इस प्रकारकी बातें कह रहे थे। हास्य, उछल-कूद और गर्जनाके साथ उनके मुखसे नाना प्रकारकी बातें सुनायी देती थीं ।। २४ ई || नरस्याश्वस्य नागस्य समसज्जत शोणितम्
ity evam uccaranti sma śrūyante vividhā giraḥ | narasyāśvasya nāgasya samasajjata śoṇitam ||
Sañjaya said: “Thus were many kinds of cries heard—men calling out in confusion and anguish, invoking ‘Father!’ ‘Son!’ ‘Friend!’ and shouting commands to strike, seize, and kill. Amid laughter, leaping about, and roaring, a tumult of voices rose from their mouths. And the blood of men, horses, and elephants mingled together on the field.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral and human cost of war: beneath boasts and battle-cries lie grief, confusion, and indiscriminate slaughter, where even the blood of humans and animals mingles—an implicit reminder of the ethical gravity of violence.
Sañjaya reports the battlefield soundscape: soldiers shout varied cries—calling to relatives and comrades and issuing violent commands—while the fighting is so intense that blood from men, horses, and elephants becomes mingled on the ground.