Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 22

Chapter 23: Śakuni Reports, Kaurava Advance, and Arjuna’s Penetration of the Host

Devanagari script

चचाल शब्दं कुर्वाणा सपर्वतवना मही । सदण्डा: सोल्मुका राजन्‌ कीर्यमाणा: समन्तत:

Transliteration

cacāla śabdaṃ kurvāṇā saparvatavanā mahī | sadaṇḍāḥ solmukā rājan kīryamāṇāḥ samantataḥ ||

Translation

Disse Sañjaya: Ó Rei, quando clavas e archotes em brasa eram arremessados em todas as direções, a terra—com suas montanhas e florestas—parecia tremer, ressoando com um grande estrondo.

Word by Word

• चचाल: shook/moved
• Type: Verb
• Root: चल् (धातु)
• Form: लिट् (परोक्शभूत/परफेक्ट), 3, singular, परस्मैपद

• शब्दम्: a sound/noise
• शब्दम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शब्द (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, accusative, singular

• कुर्वाणा: making/causing
• कुर्वाणा: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ (धातु)
• Form: शतृ (वर्तमान कृदन्त), feminine, nominative, singular

• स: she/that (earth)
• स: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: feminine, nominative, singular

• पर्वतवनाः: mountains and forests
• पर्वतवनाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पर्वतवन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: neuter, nominative, plural

• मही: the earth
• मही: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मही (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: feminine, nominative, singular

• सदण्डाः: with staffs/clubs
• सदण्डाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: स-दण्ड (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

• स: with
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: स (उपसर्ग/अव्ययार्थक-पूर्वपद)

• उल्मुकाः: firebrands/torches
• उल्मुकाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: उल्मुक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

• राजन्: O king
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, vocative, singular

• कीर्यमाणाः: being scattered/poured forth
• कीर्यमाणाः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: कॄ (धातु) / कीर्य (कर्मणि-प्रयोग)
• Form: शानच् (वर्तमान कर्मणि कृदन्त), masculine, nominative, plural

• समन्ततः: on all sides
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: समन्ततः (अव्यय)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• mahī (the earth)
• parvata (mountains)
• vana (forests)
• daṇḍa (clubs/staves)
• ulmuka (firebrands)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores how uncontrolled violence in war becomes all-pervading and indiscriminate, so intense that it is poetically described as shaking the very earth; it hints at the ethical cost of conflict, where human aggression seems to disturb the natural and moral order.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield is in tumult: weapons like clubs and flaming firebrands are being thrown in all directions, creating a deafening roar and making the earth, with its mountains and forests, appear to tremble.