Shloka 136
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
पश्चादड्गुलयो रूक्षा विरूपा भैरवस्वना: । घण्टाजालावसक्ताश्ष नीलकण्ठा विभीषणा:
paścād aṅgulayo rūkṣā virūpā bhairavasvanāḥ | ghaṇṭājālāvasaktāś ca nīlakaṇṭhā vibhīṣaṇāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Thereafter there appeared rough-fingered, misshapen, terrifying beings with dreadful cries—hung about with clusters of bells, blue-throated, and fearsome to behold. The description heightens the moral atmosphere of the night-raid: violence unrestrained by dharma is accompanied by ominous, dehumanizing portents that mirror the inner collapse of restraint.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores that acts of violence carried out in a lawless, nightmarish manner are accompanied by ominous, dehumanizing signs; the external terror reflects an ethical disorder where restraint and dharma have been abandoned.
In Sañjaya’s report, frightening, misshapen, bell-adorned, blue-throated beings with dreadful cries appear as part of the eerie atmosphere surrounding the events of the Sauptika episode, intensifying the sense of horror and foreboding.