Shloka 56

कर्णार्जुनसमागमः — The Karṇa–Arjuna Confrontation

Cosmic Spectatorship and Vows

Devanagari script

धावतां च ततो राजंस्त्रस्तानां च समन्‍्तत:ः । आर्तनादो महांस्तत्र भूतानामिव सम्प्लवे

Transliteration

dhāvatāṃ ca tato rājan trastānāṃ ca samantataḥ | ārtanādo mahāṃs tatra bhūtānām iva samplave, puruṣasiṃha |

Translation

サञ्जयは言った。「大王よ、彼らが走って逃げ、恐怖に駆られて四方へ散り散りになると、その場に大いなる悲鳴が起こった—それは宇宙が溶解する時、万有が上げる嘆きの声のようであった。人中の獅子よ、戦場の口は恐慌で満ち、兵たちは恐れに圧されて叫びつつ走り去った。」

Word by Word

• {'dhāvatām': 'of those running/fleeing (genitive plural present participle)', 'tataḥ': 'then

• thereafter', 'rājan': 'O king (vocative)', 'trastānām': 'of the frightened/terrified (genitive plural)', 'samantataḥ': 'on all sides

• everywhere', 'ārtanādaḥ': 'cry of distress

• lamentation', 'mahān': 'great

• immense', 'tatra': 'there', 'bhūtānām': 'of living beings

• creatures', 'iva': 'as if

• like', 'samplave': 'in a flood

• at dissolution/cataclysm (contextually: pralaya-like catastrophe)', 'puruṣasiṃha': 'O lion among men (vocative epithet)'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'rājan')
• soldiers/warriors (collective)
• pralaya/samplava (cosmic dissolution imagery)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the human cost of war: when courage collapses, even trained fighters become overwhelmed by fear, and the battlefield turns into a scene of universal suffering—evoked through the pralaya-like image. It implicitly warns that violence unleashes collective anguish beyond individual heroism.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the king that troops, terrified, are fleeing in all directions. Their cries of distress swell into a massive uproar, compared to the lamentation of all beings during a cosmic catastrophe.