Shloka 70
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
ददृशु: कालरात्रिं ते गायमानामवस्थिताम् । नराश्वकुण्जरान् पाशैर्बद्धवा घोरै: प्रतस्थुषीम्,उस समय पाण्डवपक्षके योद्धाओंने मूर्तिमती कालरात्रिको देखा, जिसके शरीरका रंग काला था, मुख और नेत्र लाल थे। वह लाल फूलोंकी माला पहने और लाल चन्दन लगाये हुए थी। उसने लाल रंगकी ही साड़ी पहन रखी थी। वह अपने ढंगकी अकेली थी और हाथमें पाश लिये हुए थी। उसकी सखियोंका समुदाय भी उसके साथ था। वह गीत गाती हुई खड़ी थी और भयंकर पाशोंद्वारा मनुष्यों, घोड़ों एवं हाथियोंको बाँधकर लिये जाती थी
dadṛśuḥ kālarātriṁ te gāyamānām avasthitām | narāśva-kuñjarān pāśair baddhvā ghoraiḥ pratasthuṣīm ||
Sañjaya said: They beheld embodied Kālarātri, standing there and singing. With dreadful nooses she had bound men, horses, and elephants, and was moving away with them—an ominous vision of death and doom descending upon the warriors in the night of slaughter.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the night massacre as being overshadowed by an impersonal, inexorable force—Kālarātri—suggesting that when violence and adharma peak, death and ruin ‘take possession’ of all ranks (men, horses, elephants alike). It underscores the ethical warning that war’s cruelty ultimately binds everyone in the same noose of suffering and mortality.
In Sañjaya’s report, the warriors perceive a terrifying apparition: Kālarātri personified, singing and standing nearby, binding living beings with dreadful nooses and moving away with them. The vision functions as an omen and poetic depiction of imminent slaughter and the harvesting of lives during the Sauptika night-raid.