Shloka 5
रथेषाश्न रथेषाभि: कूबरा रथकूबरै: । संगतैः सहिता: केचित् परस्परजिघांसव:
ratheṣāśna ratheṣābhiḥ kūbarā rathakūbaraiḥ | saṃgataiḥ sahitāḥ kecit parasparajighāṃsavaḥ ||
Disse Sañjaya: As varas dos carros chocavam-se contra varas, e os jugos e seus pinos colidiam com os de outros carros. Alguns guerreiros, comprimidos no aperto da refrega, moviam-se com a intenção mútua de matar-se—imagem de uma batalha em que a própria proximidade se torna arma e a hostilidade supera toda contenção.
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.