Shloka 2
सैन्यसंनिवेशः (Sainyasaṃniveśaḥ) — Deployment, Omens, and Yuddha-Dharma Conventions
वैशग्पायन उवाच यथा युयुधिरे वीरा: कुरुपाण्डवसोमका: । कुरुक्षेत्रे तपःक्षेत्रे शृणु त्वं पृथिवीपते,वैशम्पायनजीने कहा--पृथ्वीपते! वीर कौरव, पाण्डव और सोमकोंने तपोभूमि कुरक्षेत्रमें जिस प्रकार युद्ध किया था, उसे बताता हूँ; सुनो
vaiśampāyana uvāca | yathā yuyudhire vīrāḥ kuru-pāṇḍava-somakāḥ | kuru-kṣetre tapaḥ-kṣetre śṛṇu tvaṃ pṛthivī-pate ||
Vaiśampāyana berkata: “Wahai tuan penguasa bumi, dengarlah ketika aku mengisahkan bagaimana para wira Kurus, Pāṇḍavas, dan Somakas berperang di Kurukṣetra—tanah suci yang dimuliakan sebagai medan tapa—tempat pertarungan senjata berlangsung di hamparan yang sarat makna dharma dan rohani.”
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the coming battle as more than a political conflict: it occurs on Kurukṣetra, explicitly called a ‘tapaḥ-kṣetra’, suggesting that actions in war are inseparable from dharma, merit, and moral accountability—especially for rulers and warriors.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana addresses the king (Janamejaya) and begins his account of how the Kurus, Pāṇḍavas, and their allies the Somakas fought at Kurukṣetra, setting the stage for the detailed war narrative of the Bhīṣma Parva.