Shloka 5
Bhīmasena’s Kalinga Engagement and the Approach of Bhīṣma (भीमसेन-कालिङ्ग-संग्रामः)
रथेषाश्न रथेषाभि: कूबरा रथकूबरै: । संगतैः सहिता: केचित् परस्परजिघांसव:
ratheṣāśna ratheṣābhiḥ kūbarā rathakūbaraiḥ | saṃgataiḥ sahitāḥ kecit parasparajighāṃsavaḥ ||
Sañjaya berkata: Tiang kereta perang berlanggar dengan tiang kereta perang, dan kuk serta pasak kuk bertembung dengan kuk kereta yang lain. Sebahagian pejuang, berhimpit rapat dalam rempuhan, bergerak dengan niat saling membunuh—gambaran medan perang di mana kedekatan itu sendiri menjadi senjata, dan permusuhan mengatasi segala kendalian diri.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war compresses human agency into mechanical collision and mutual hatred: when people become 'packed together' with the intent to kill, ethical discernment is eclipsed by enmity. It implicitly warns that unchecked hostility turns even tools (chariots) into instruments of indiscriminate destruction.
Sañjaya reports the intensity of the Kurukṣetra fighting: chariots are so densely engaged that their poles and yokes strike each other, and combatants in the crush press together, each seeking the other's death.