Shloka 31
Yudhiṣṭhira–Droṇa Saṃgrāma
Engagement and Countermeasures
स्निग्धाञ्जनचयाकारं सम्प्राप्त: कालपर्वतम् | ब्रह्मतुज़ं नदीक्षान्यास्तथा जनपदानपि,वे क्रमशः आगे बढ़ते हुए स्निग्ध कज्जलराशिके समान आकारवाले काल पर्वतके समीप जा पहुँचे। फिर ब्रह्मतुंग पर्वत, अन्यान्य नदियों तथा बहुत-से जनपदोंको भी उन्होंने देखा
snigdhāñjanacayākāraṁ samprāptaḥ kālaparvatam | brahmatuṅgaṁ nadīkṣāṇyās tathā janapadān api ||
Sañjaya said: Advancing in due sequence, he reached the Kāla mountain, whose mass looked like a heap of glossy collyrium. Thereafter he also beheld the Brahmatuṅga mountain, various rivers, and many inhabited regions. The passage underscores the inexorable onward movement of events—like a journey through marked landmarks—suggesting the steady approach of fate amid the war’s unfolding.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse conveys the sense of inevitable progression: as the traveler moves from landmark to landmark, the narrative suggests that events in the war advance with a similar inevitability. The dark, collyrium-like imagery of Kālaparvata also evokes foreboding—an ethical reminder that war’s path leads through grim, fated terrain.
Sañjaya reports a sequential journey: the subject (contextually, a moving figure/force in the campaign narrative) reaches Kālaparvata, then observes Brahmatuṅga, multiple rivers, and many populated regions—marking stages of movement across the landscape during the Drona Parva events.