Shloka 41
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 95 — Sātyaki’s Breakthrough and the Routing of Allied Contingents
सान्तरायुधिनश्रैव द्विपास्तीक्ष्णविषोपमा: । बहुत-से हाथी चिग्घाड़ रहे थे, बहुतेरे धराशायी हो गये थे, दूसरे कितने ही हाथी सम्पूर्ण दिशाओंमें चक्कर काट रहे थे और बहुत-से गज अत्यन्त भयभीत हो भागते हुए अपने ही पक्षके योद्धाओंको कुचल रहे थे। तीक्ष्ण विषवाले सर्पोके समान भयंकर वे सभी हाथी गुप्तास्त्रधारी सैनिकोंसे युक्त थे || ४० ई ।। विदन्त्यसुरमायां ये सुघोरा घोरचक्षुष:,जो आसुरी मायाको जानते हैं, जिनकी आकृति अत्यन्त भयंकर है तथा जो भयानक नेत्रोंसे युक्त हैं एवं जो कौओंके समान काले, दुराचारी, स्त्रीलम्पट और कलहप्रिय होते हैं वे यवन, पारद, शक और बाह्नलीक भी वहाँ युद्धके लिये उपस्थित हुए
sāntarāyudhināś caiva dvipās tīkṣṇaviṣopamāḥ |
Sañjaya said: “And there were elephants equipped with weapons and armoured riders, terrible like serpents of sharp venom. Amid the din of battle, many elephants were trumpeting; many had fallen to the ground; others wheeled about in all directions, and many, seized by panic, fled and trampled even their own side’s warriors. Thus the war’s confusion and fear turned strength into indiscriminate destruction, showing how violence, once unleashed, overwhelms restraint and right judgment.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how fear and confusion in war can make even powerful forces (like war-elephants) turn indiscriminately destructive, harming allies as well as enemies—an ethical warning about the uncontrollable fallout of violence.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield where armed elephants, terrifying like venomous serpents, trumpet, fall, whirl about, and in panic flee—sometimes trampling their own troops—intensifying the disorder of the fight.