Shloka 44

Devanagari script

उन्मत्तगज्जप्रतिमं शब्देनापूरयज्जगत्‌ । इस प्रकार अस्त्र-शस्त्रोंसे परिपूर्ण यह महाभयानक युद्ध बढ़ी हुई गंगाके समान जगत्‌को कोलाहलसे परिपूर्ण कर रहा था ।। ४३ $ || नैव स्वे न परे राजन्‌ विज्ञायन्ते शरातुरा:

Transliteration

unmattagajja-pratimaṁ śabdenāpūrayaj jagat | naiva sve na pare rājan vijñāyante śarāturāḥ ||

Translation

Санджая сказал: «Словно обезумевший слон, она своим ревом наполнила весь мир. О царь, в той страшной битве — тесной от стрел и оружия, вздымающейся, как разлившаяся Ганга, — гул поглотил всё; поражённые стрелами уже не различались: “свои” ли они или “враги”.»

Word by Word

उन्मत्तmaddened, frenzied

गजelephant

प्रतिमम्like, resembling

शब्देनwith sound, by noise

अपूरयत्filled

जगत्the world

नnot

एवindeed, at all

स्वेin one’s own (side)

नnor/not

परेin the other (side)

राजन्O king

विज्ञायन्तेwere/are recognized, could be distinguished

शरातुराःafflicted by arrows; arrow-wounded

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

King (Dhṛtarāṣṭra, implied by address rājan)

Gaṅgā (as simile)

arrows (śara)

weapons/missiles (astra-śastra, implied by context)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how extreme violence and confusion in war can erase moral and social distinctions—friend and foe become indistinguishable—underscoring the ethical cost of uncontrolled conflict and the suffering it produces.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the king that the battlefield has become terrifyingly loud and chaotic, likened to a raging elephant and a flooded Gaṅgā; amid the arrow-stricken fighters, neither side can clearly recognize their own men versus the enemy.