Shloka 98
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
गजा गजानतिक्रम्य निर्मनुष्या हया हयान्
gajā gajān atikramya nirmanuṣyā hayā hayān
Sañjaya said: The elephants, surging past other elephants, and the horses, rushing beyond other horses, moved on—so that the scene seemed emptied of men, as if human presence had vanished amid the stampede and confusion of the night’s slaughter.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the dehumanizing momentum of war: once violence erupts, even mighty war-animals move in blind panic, and human agency seems to disappear. Ethically, it hints at how adharma in battle produces chaos where life is trampled without discernment.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield scene in the Sauptika episode: elephants and horses, in confusion and terror, rush past one another. The camp/battlefield appears ‘without men’—suggesting widespread death, flight, or the inability to distinguish people amid the tumult.