Shloka 23
बाणान्धकारमभवत्तद् युद्ध घोरदर्शनम्,उस समय भयंकर दिखायी देनेवाला वह युद्ध बाणोंके अन्धकारसे व्याप्त हो गया। माननीय प्रजानाथ! जब धर्मपुत्र युधिष्ठिर कौरव-सेनाका वध करने लगे, उस समय आपके योद्धाओंका महान् हाहाकार सब ओर गूँज उठा
sañjaya uvāca | bāṇāndhakāram abhavat tad yuddhaṃ ghoradarśanam | tasmin samaye bhayaṅkara-dṛśyam idaṃ yuddhaṃ bāṇānām andhakāreṇa vyāptaṃ babhūva | mānīya prajānātha! yadā dharmaputraḥ yudhiṣṭhiraḥ kaurava-senāyā vadhaṃ kartum ārabdhavān, tadā tava yodhānāṃ mahān hāhākāraḥ sarvato 'bhavat ||
Sanjaya said: That battle, dreadful to behold, became shrouded in a darkness made of arrows. O revered lord of the people! When Dharmaputra Yudhishthira began to strike down the Kaurava host, a great cry of distress rose up on all sides among your warriors.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even a righteous king like Yudhishthira, bound by kṣatriya-dharma, can become an instrument of mass destruction in war; the verse highlights how violence rapidly escalates into collective suffering, symbolized by the ‘darkness’ of arrows and the universal cry of distress.
Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that the battlefield is so thick with arrows it appears dark; at the moment Yudhishthira begins cutting down the Kaurava forces, Dhritarashtra’s warriors panic and a loud wail spreads everywhere.