Shloka 233
कर्णपर्व — चतुर्दशोऽध्यायः
Arjuna’s Suppression of the Saṃśaptakas; Kṛṣṇa’s Strategic Admonition; Battlefield Inventory
ग्रहयुद्ध यथा घोरं प्रजासंहरणे हाभूत् । महाराज! फिर तो जैसे प्रजाके संहारकालमें ग्रहोंका घोर युद्ध होने लगता है, उसी प्रकार उन दोनोंमें भयंकर अस्त्रयुद्ध छिड़ गया
grahayuddhaṃ yathā ghoraṃ prajāsaṃharaṇe hābhūt | mahārāja! punaḥ to yathā prajānāṃ saṃhārakāle grahāṇāṃ ghoraṃ yuddhaṃ bhavati, tathā tayor dvayor madhye bhayaṅkaram astrayuddhaṃ pracchinnaṃ jātaṃ |
Sanjaya said: O King, just as at the time of a people’s destruction there arises a dreadful war among the planets, so again between those two a terrifying battle of missiles broke out—an omen-like clash suggesting ruin and the hardening of fate amid the violence of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames human warfare within a moral-cosmic register: when violence reaches a peak, it is portrayed as accompanied by ominous signs, suggesting that adharma and uncontrolled aggression invite collective ruin and the tightening grip of fate.
Sanjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the fight between two principal warriors has escalated into a fierce exchange of astras (missile-weapons), likened to a dreadful planetary conflict that appears at times of widespread destruction.