Mahabharata 7.99.9 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 99, Shloka 9
अध्याय ९९ — युयुधान-दुःशासन-युद्धम्
Chapter 99: Sātyaki and Duḥśāsana’s engagement
तपनीयततनुत्राणा: संसिक्ता रुधिरेण च | संसक्ता इव दृश्यन्ते मेघसंघा: सविद्युत:,सुवर्णका कवच बाँधे तथा खूनसे लथपथ हुए सैनिक परस्पर सटे हुए बिजलियोंसहित मेघसमूहोंके समान दिखायी देते थे
tapanīyatatanutrāṇāḥ saṃsiktā rudhireṇa ca | saṃsaktā iva dṛśyante meghasaṃghāḥ savidyutaḥ ||
Sañjaya disse: Os guerreiros, vestidos de couraças douradas e encharcados de sangue, pareciam comprimidos em massa—como aglomerados de nuvens de chuva riscadas por relâmpagos. A imagem ressalta como esplendor e violência se misturam no campo de batalha: o brilho permanece, mas está manchado pelo custo moral da guerra.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse offers a moral-psychological contrast: outward brilliance (golden armor, lightning) persists amid inner and outer ruin (blood, dense clouds). It invites reflection on how war can cloak suffering in spectacle, and how ethical judgment must look beyond dazzling appearances.
Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra the sight of soldiers in the thick of combat. Their golden armor is smeared with blood, and they stand packed together, resembling lightning-streaked cloud-banks—an image conveying both the density of the fighting and the ominous grandeur of the scene.
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