Shloka 2536
कर्णपर्व — चतुर्दशोऽध्यायः
Arjuna’s Suppression of the Saṃśaptakas; Kṛṣṇa’s Strategic Admonition; Battlefield Inventory
उल्कापातावृतं युद्ध प्रजानां संक्षये नूप । नरेश्वरर उस समय बाणसमूहोंसे व्याप्त हुआ आकाश बड़ा भयंकर प्रतीत होने लगा; ठीक उस तरह जैसे प्रजाके संहारकालमें होनेवाला युद्ध उल्कापातसे व्याप्त होनेके कारण अत्यन्त भयानक दिखायी देता है
sañjaya uvāca | ulkāpātāvṛtaṃ yuddhaṃ prajānāṃ saṃkṣaye nṛpa | bāṇasaṃghair vyāptaṃ vyoma tadā ghoraṃ babhūva | yathā prajāsaṃhārakāle yuddham ulkāpātāvṛtaṃ bhayānakaṃ dṛśyate ||
Sañjaya disse: Ó rei, então o céu, tomado por densas revoadas de flechas, pareceu terrível em demasia; como uma batalha na hora da destruição de um povo, quando fica encoberta pela queda de meteoros e, por isso, se mostra pavorosa.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames extreme violence as a moral and cosmic warning: when war becomes indiscriminate and annihilative, nature itself seems to mirror the disorder through ominous signs (meteors), reminding rulers that adharma-driven conflict leads to collective ruin.
Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that the battlefield has become terrifying: the sky is thick with volleys of arrows, and the scene is compared to an apocalyptic battle veiled by meteor-falls—an image emphasizing the scale and dread of the ongoing combat in the Karna Parva.