Shloka 12

रणभूमिवर्णनम् — Devāsuropama-yuddha and the ‘River’ Metaphor of the Battlefield

Devanagari script

तद्‌ बल॑ भरतश्रेष्ठ क्षुब्धार्णवसमस्वनम्‌

Transliteration

tad bala bharataśreṣṭha kṣubdhārṇavasamasvanam

Translation

Sañjaya said: “O best of the Bharatas, that mighty force raised a roar like the sound of a storm-tossed ocean.”

Word by Word

• तत्: that (it)
• तत्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• बलम्: army/force
• बलम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: बल
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• भरतश्रेष्ठ: O best of the Bharatas
• Type: Noun (vocative address)
• Root: भरत-श्रेष्ठ
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• क्षुब्ध: agitated, churned
• Type: Adjective (past passive participle)
• Root: क्षुभ्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative/Accusative (in compound stem agreement), Singular

• अर्णव: ocean
• Type: Noun
• Root: अर्णव
• Form: Masculine, Nominative/Accusative (in compound stem), Singular

• सम: equal to, like
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सम
• Form: Masculine/Neuter (in compound stem), Nominative/Accusative (in compound stem), Singular

• स्वनम्: sound, roar
• स्वनम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्वन
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by the vocative bharataśreṣṭha)
• bala (the army/host)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores how war magnifies collective force into an overwhelming, ocean-like tumult—an image that implicitly cautions against the destructive momentum of conflict once armies are set in motion.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the assembled force (army) is producing a tremendous roar, likened to the sound of a violently churned ocean, heightening the sense of imminent battle.