Shloka 34
अध्याय २६ — शल्यस्य सारथ्य-नियोजनं, कर्णस्य प्रस्थानं, उत्पातदर्शनं च
Chapter 26: Śalya appointed as charioteer; Karṇa’s departure; portents
अश्रूयत महा>शब्दस्तत्र तत्र विशाम्पते । प्रजानाथ! फिर तो वहाँ हजारों बाण प्रकट होने लगे। माननीय भरतवंशी प्रजापालक नरेश! उस समय कट-कटकर गिरनेवाले ध्वज, धनुष, रथ, पताका, तरकस, जूए, धुरे, पहिये, जोत, बागडोर, कूबर, वरूथ (रथका चर्ममय आवरण), बाण, घोड़े, प्रास, ऋष्टि, गदा, परिघ, शक्ति, तोमर, पट्टिश, चक्रयुक्त शतघ्नी, बाँह-जाँघ, कण्ठसूत्र, अंगद, केयूर, हार, निष्क, कवच, छत्र, व्यजन और मुकुटसहित मस्तकोंका महान् शब्द युद्धस्थलमें जहाँ- तहाँ सब ओर सुनायी देने लगा || २८--३३ ह || सकुण्डलानि स्वक्षीणि पूर्णचन्द्रनिभानि च
sañjaya uvāca | aśrūyata mahāśabdas tatra tatra viśāmpate | prajānātha! tato vā tatra sahasraśo bāṇāḥ prādurabhavan | tadā chidyamānānāṃ patantīnām dhvajānāṃ dhanūṃṣi rathānāṃ patākānāṃ tarakasānāṃ yūgānāṃ dhurāṇāṃ cakrāṇāṃ yottānāṃ bāgadorāṇāṃ kūbarāṇāṃ varūthānāṃ bāṇānāṃ hayānāṃ prāsānām ṛṣṭīnām gadānāṃ parighāṇāṃ śaktīnām tomarāṇāṃ paṭṭiśānāṃ cakrayuktānāṃ śataghnīnām bāhu-jāṅghānāṃ kaṇṭhasūtrāṇām aṅgadānāṃ keyūrāṇāṃ hārāṇāṃ niṣkāṇāṃ kavacānāṃ chatrāṇāṃ vyajanānāṃ mukuṭasahitānāṃ mastakānāṃ ca mahān śabdo yuddhasthale yatra tatra sarvataḥ śrūyata | sakuṇḍalāni svakṣīṇi pūrṇacandranibhāni ca |
Sanjaya said: O lord of the people, O king of men, a tremendous clamor was heard here and there across the battlefield. Then, in that place, thousands of arrows seemed to spring forth. At that time the great crash of things being cut down and falling—standards, bows, chariots, banners, quivers, yokes, axles, wheels, harness, reins, poles, leather coverings of chariots, arrows, horses, spears, lances, maces, iron bars, javelins, tomara-spears, battle-axes, wheel-fitted śataghnī weapons, severed arms and thighs, neck-ornaments, armlets, shoulder-ornaments, garlands, gold plaques, armor, parasols, fans, and heads falling with their crowns—was heard everywhere on the field. Even earrings and bright ornaments, moonlike in sheen, were seen among the fallen.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the catastrophic cost of war: even royal insignia and human bodies become indistinguishable amid destruction. It implicitly warns that power and ornamentation are fragile, and that the ethical weight of conflict is measured not by glory but by the suffering and irreversible loss it produces.
Sanjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield is filled with a deafening crash as countless arrows fly and everything—chariots, weapons, emblems, armor, ornaments, and even severed limbs and crowned heads—falls everywhere, conveying the intensity and chaos of the fighting.