Shloka 9
Karṇa-vadha-pratyaya: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Verification of Karṇa’s Fall (कर्णवध-प्रत्ययः)
तन्नराश्वौघबहुलं मत्तनागरथाकुलम्
tan-narāśvaugha-bahulaṁ matta-nāga-rathākulam
Sañjaya berkata: “Itu suatu himpunan padat yang menggelora—manusia dan kuda bertumpu-tumpu; sesak dengan kereta perang dan gajah-gajah yang mabuk mengamuk—arus perang yang menyesakkan, tempat kekuatan dan kekacauan sama-sama membesar.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse is primarily descriptive rather than didactic: it highlights how war compresses living beings and instruments into a single turbulent mass, suggesting the ethical gravity of battle—where individual agency is easily swallowed by collective frenzy.
Sañjaya depicts the battlefield as packed with warriors and horses, and crowded with chariots and frenzied elephants, conveying the density, noise, and confusion of the ongoing combat in the Karṇa Parva.