Shloka 33

भीष्मपर्व — अध्याय ९६: सौभद्रस्य आक्रमणम्, अलम्बुसस्य प्रतिविधानम्

Abhimanyu’s assault; Alambusa’s counter-engagement

Devanagari script

प्रेषिताश्न महामात्रैवरिणा: परवारणै:। अभ्यघ्नन्त विषाणाग्रैरवारिणानेव संयुगे,महावतोंके द्वारा आगे बढ़ाने हुए हाथी विपक्षी हाथियोंसे टक्कर लेकर युद्धस्थलमें अपने दाँतोंके अग्रभागसे हाथियोंपर ही चोट करते थे

Transliteration

preṣitāś ca mahāmātrair ariṇāḥ paravāraṇaiḥ | abhyaghnanta viṣāṇāgrair avāriṇān eva saṁyuge ||

Translation

サञ्जयは言った。大将たちに駆り立てられて前へ進む敵の戦象は、相手の象と正面からぶつかり合い、戦場のただ中で鋭い牙の先で突き刺した。

Word by Word

प्रेषिताःurged/impelled (set in motion)

महामात्रैःby the elephant-drivers/mahouts

वरिणाःelephants (war-elephants)

परवारणैःwith/against enemy elephants

अभ्यघ्नन्they struck/smote

विषाणाग्रैःwith the tips of (their) tusks

अवारिणाirresistibly/unchecked (as by an unresisted force)

इवas/like

संयुगेin battle

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

enemy elephants

opposing elephants

tusks

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores how warfare amplifies violence through hierarchy: commanders direct, and powerful creatures become instruments of harm. Ethically, it highlights the tragic reduction of life to weaponry and the momentum of conflict once unleashed.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a battlefield moment where enemy elephants, urged on by their commanders, collide with opposing elephants and gore them with their tusk-tips amid the fighting.