Shloka 8
Bhīmasena’s Kalinga Engagement and the Approach of Bhīṣma (भीमसेन-कालिङ्ग-संग्रामः)
अभिसृत्य महाराज वेगवद्धिर्महागजै: । दन्तैरभिहतास्तत्र चुक्रुशु: परमातुरा:
abhisṛtya mahārāja vegavaddhir mahāgajaiḥ | dantair abhihatās tatra cukruśuḥ paramāturāḥ ||
サンジャヤは言った。「大王よ、猛然と突進したとき、そこでは多くの象が、俊敏で巨躯の戦象と激しく衝突した。牙に打たれて、彼らは耐え難い苦痛のうちに叫び声を上げた――戦場の容赦なき暴虐と、武の憤激が招く苦しみを映す光景であった。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the immediate human-and-animal cost of war: even mighty creatures become helpless in pain. It implicitly cautions that martial power and speed, when driven into collision, culminate in suffering—an ethical reminder embedded within the epic’s war narrative.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that elephants on the battlefield rush into combat, clash with great swift elephants, and, wounded by tusk-blows, cry out in intense agony.