Shloka 27
Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 20 — Yudhiṣṭhira–Duryodhana Encounter and Escalation of Arms
उस समय जब कौरव, पांचाल तथा पाण्डव योद्धा परिश्रमपूर्वक युद्धमें लगे हुए थे, सभी सैनिक रणभूमिमें अपने प्यारे प्राणोंका मोह छोड़कर एक-दूसरेको मारने लगे ।। सुसंनद्धा: कवचिन: सशिरस्त्राणभूषणा: । गदाभिर्मुसलै क्षान्ये परिघचैश्ञ महाबला:,माननीय नरेश! कमर कसे, कवच बाँधे तथा शिरस्त्राण एवं आभूषण धारण किये हुए महाबली योद्धा गरजते, उछलते-कूदते और एक-दूसरेको ललकारते हुए कालदण्डके समान गदा, मूसल और परिघ उठाये परस्पर धावा बोल रहे थे
sañjaya uvāca | tadā yatra kauravāḥ pāñcālāś ca pāṇḍavāś ca yodhāḥ pariśramapūrvakaṃ yuddhe pravṛttāḥ, sarve sainikā raṇabhūmau priyaprāṇamohaṃ tyaktvā parasparaṃ jaghnire || susaṃnaddhāḥ kavacinaḥ saśirastrāṇabhūṣaṇāḥ | gadābhir musalaiś cānye parighaiś ca mahābalāḥ, mānanīya nareśa! kaṭiṃ baddhvā kavacaṃ baddhvā śirastrāṇaṃ bhūṣaṇāni ca dhārayitvā, garjantaḥ plavantaḥ parasparaṃ samāhvayantaś ca kāladaṇḍasamaiḥ gadā-musalapari-ghair anyonyam abhidhāvanta ||
Sañjaya said: At that time, when the Kaurava, Pāñcāla, and Pāṇḍava warriors were strenuously engaged in battle, all the soldiers on the field cast aside attachment to their own dear lives and began striking one another down. Well-armoured and mail-clad, wearing helmets and ornaments, mighty fighters—O revered king—tightening their girdles and fastening their cuirasses, roared and sprang forward, challenging each other as they rushed in. Lifting clubs, maces, and iron bars like the rod of Death itself, they charged headlong against one another.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grim ethical tension of war: soldiers, driven by martial duty and the momentum of conflict, abandon attachment to personal survival and act with a death-facing resolve. It highlights how battle can demand a hard detachment, while also portraying the dehumanizing intensity where weapons become ‘like Death’s rod’.
Sañjaya describes a phase of the Kurukṣetra battle in which Kaurava, Pāñcāla, and Pāṇḍava fighters, fully armoured and helmeted, roar and challenge one another, then rush together wielding maces, clubs, and iron bars, striking each other down in close combat.