Shloka 343
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
घोरमायोधन जज्ञे प्रेतताजपुरोपमम् । जो उनमें प्रवेश करते, उन्हें वे डुबो देती थीं और क्षत्रियोंके मनमें भय उत्पन्न करती थीं। नरव्याप्र! वहाँ गरजते हुए मांसभक्षी जन्तुओंके शब्दसे वह युद्धस्थल प्रेतराजकी नगरीके समान भयानक जान पड़ता था
sañjaya uvāca | ghoram āyodhanaṃ jajñe pretarāja-puro'upamam |
Sañjaya said: A dreadful battlefield came into being, resembling the city of the Lord of the Dead. It was so terrifying that it seemed like Yama’s own realm—an image that underscores how war, when it turns into indiscriminate slaughter, overwhelms the warrior’s courage with fear and reduces the field of duty into a landscape of death.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the battlefield as Yama’s city to highlight the moral gravity of war: when combat becomes overwhelmingly lethal, it evokes the realm of death itself, stirring fear even in kṣatriyas and reminding the listener that violence carries a profound ethical and existential weight.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the fighting has become extremely horrific; the battlefield appears like the city of the Lord of the Dead, conveying the scale of slaughter and the terror pervading the scene.