Shloka 293
भीमसेन-धृष्टद्युम्नयोर्वाक्यं
Bhīmasena and Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s Speeches on Kṣātra-Dharma
विगाढे रजनीमध्ये शक्रप्रह्लादयोरिव । तदनन्तर गाढ़ अन्धकारसे भरी हुई आधीरातके समय रणभूमिमें इन्द्र और प्रह्नादके समान अभश्वत्थामा और घटोत्कचका घोर युद्ध आरम्भ हुआ
vigāḍhe rajanīmadhye śakra-prahlādayor iva | tad-anantaraṁ gāḍha-andhakārase bharī huī ādhī-rātake samaya raṇabhūmim̐ indra aura prahlādake samāna aśvatthāmā aura ghaṭotkacaka ghora yuddha ārambha huā |
विगाढे रजनीमध्ये घनान्धकारसमावृते । रणभूमौ शक्रप्रह्लादयोरिवाश्वत्थामघटोत्कचयोर्घोरं युद्धमारब्धम् ॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war’s moral peril intensifies in darkness: when visibility and restraint diminish, violence escalates and the battlefield becomes a space where fear and confusion can override dharmic limits. The divine-heroic simile warns that such clashes take on a destructive, almost cosmic magnitude.
Sañjaya reports that at midnight, amid thick darkness, a fierce fight begins between Aśvatthāmā and Ghaṭotkaca on the battlefield, compared in intensity to a legendary combat involving Indra (Śakra) and Prahlāda.