Shloka 6
सेनासमागमः — The Convergence of Armies
अक्षौहिणी तु सा सेना तदा यौधिष्ठिरं बलम् । प्रविश्यान्तर्दधे राजन् सागरं कुनदी यथा
akṣauhiṇī tu sā senā tadā yauḍhiṣṭhiraṃ balam | praviśyāntardadhe rājan sāgaraṃ kunadī yathā ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは語った。「おお王よ、その一アクシャウヒニーの軍勢は、ユディシュティラの大軍に入り込むや、その中に姿を消した――小さな川が海に至れば、その広大さのうちに失われるがごとく。」
वैशमग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a moral-psychological image: when a smaller force joins a vastly larger one, its separate identity disappears. In the Udyoga Parva context, it highlights the accumulating momentum toward war and the way individual contingents become part of a larger, consequential enterprise.
A single akṣauhiṇī of troops merges into Yudhiṣṭhira’s already great army. The narrator compares this to a small river entering the ocean and being absorbed, emphasizing the scale of the Pāṇḍava host.