Shloka 4
द्रोणपर्व — अध्याय ९०: हार्दिक्यस्य पराक्रमः
Kṛtavarmā’s Stand against the Pāṇḍavas
बलानां वायसानां च पुरस्तात् सव्यसाचिन: । बहुलानि सहस्राणि प्राक्रीडंस्तत्र भारत,भारत! वहाँ सव्यसाची अर्जुनके सम्मुख आकाशमें कई हजार कौए और वायस क्रीडा करते हुए उड़ रहे थे
balānāṁ vāyasānāṁ ca purastāt savyasācinaḥ | bahulāni sahasrāṇi prākrīḍaṁs tatra bhārata ||
Sañjaya said: In front of Savyasācin (Arjuna), O Bhārata, many thousands of crows were sporting and wheeling about there in the sky—an ominous sight amid the war, hinting at the nearness of death and the grim harvest of battle.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how, in a dharmic war narrative, nature’s signs (especially scavenger birds) are read as omens reminding warriors of mortality and the ethical gravity of violence—victory and loss alike are shadowed by death.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that before Arjuna, many thousands of birds—crows and balāḥ—circle and play in the sky, a foreboding battlefield sign suggesting imminent slaughter and the presence of death.