Shloka 5

Bhīmasena’s Kalinga Engagement and the Approach of Bhīṣma (भीमसेन-कालिङ्ग-संग्रामः)

Devanagari script

रथेषाश्न रथेषाभि: कूबरा रथकूबरै: । संगतैः सहिता: केचित्‌ परस्परजिघांसव:

Transliteration

ratheṣāśna ratheṣābhiḥ kūbarā rathakūbaraiḥ | saṃgataiḥ sahitāḥ kecit parasparajighāṃsavaḥ ||

Translation

サンジャヤは語った。戦車の轅は轅に打ち当たり、轭と轭の留め具は他の戦車のそれと衝突した。押し潰されるほど密集した混戦の中で、ある者たちは互いを殺さんとする意志を抱いて動いた—近さそのものが武器となり、敵意が自制を踏みにじる戦の姿である。

Word by Word

• रथेषु: in chariots
• रथेषु: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: रथ
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Plural

• आश्न: they ate/consumed
• आश्न: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: अश् (अश्नाति)
• Form: Imperfect (Lan), 3rd, Plural

• रथेषु: in chariots
• रथेषु: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: रथ
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Plural

• अभिः: towards/against; upon
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अभि

• कूबराः: poles (of chariots)
• कूबराः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कूबर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• रथकूबरैः: with chariot-poles
• रथकूबरैः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: रथकूबर
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• संगतैः: having come together; in collision
• संगतैः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: संगत
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• सहिताः: joined/combined; together
• सहिताः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सहित
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• केचित्: some (persons)
• केचित्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: कश्चित्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• परस्पर: mutually; each other
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: परस्पर

• जिघांसवः: desirous of killing
• जिघांसवः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जिघांसु
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• chariots (ratha)
• chariot-poles (īṣā)
• yokes/yoke-parts (kūbara)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how war compresses human agency into mechanical collision and mutual hatred: when people become 'packed together' with the intent to kill, ethical discernment is eclipsed by enmity. It implicitly warns that unchecked hostility turns even tools (chariots) into instruments of indiscriminate destruction.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports the intensity of the Kurukṣetra fighting: chariots are so densely engaged that their poles and yokes strike each other, and combatants in the crush press together, each seeking the other's death.