Shloka 5
Adhyāya 16: Saṃśaptaka-vrata and the Diversion of Arjuna (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय १६)
हयौघांश्र॒ रथौघांक्ष॒ गजौघांश्व॒ महारथ: । अपातयद्ू रणे राजन् शतशोडथ सहस्रश:,नरेश्वर! उस महारथी वीरने रणभूमिमें घोड़ों, रथों और हाथियोंके सैकड़ों-हजारों समूहोंको मार गिराया
hayaughāṁś ca rathaughāṁś ca gajaughāṁś ca mahārathaḥ | apātayad raṇe rājan śataśo 'tha sahasraśaḥ ||
サञ्जयは言った。「王よ、その大車戦士は戦場において、馬の群れ、戦車の群れ、象の群れを――百に及び、さらに千に及ぶほど――打ち倒した。この偈は、戦場に満ちる暴力の規模の圧倒的さを示す。武の冴えは節度ある抑制ではなく、広大な破壊として現れるのだ。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the immense, impersonal scale of wartime destruction: a single elite warrior can annihilate vast formations. Ethically, it invites reflection on how martial excellence, when embedded in total war, results in mass suffering—raising tension between kṣatriya valor and the human cost of conflict.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that an unnamed great warrior (mahāratha) is felling large groups of cavalry, chariots, and elephants on the battlefield—hundreds and thousands at a time—conveying the ferocity and momentum of the ongoing combat in Droṇa Parva.