Shloka 28
Droṇasya raudra-prayogaḥ
Droṇa’s intensified assault and the Pāṇḍava response
यथा प्रज्वलित: सूर्यो युगान्ते वै वसुंधराम्
yathā prajvalitaḥ sūryo yugānte vai vasuṃdharām
सञ्जय उवाच—यथा युगान्ते प्रज्वलितः सूर्यः वसुन्धरां दहति, तथैव तत्र रणभूमौ महाबलस्य सैन्यस्य वेगः सर्वभेदान् भस्मीकृत्य निराश्रयं जगत् इवाकरोत्।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses end-of-age (yugānta) imagery to stress how unchecked martial power can become indiscriminate and consuming; ethically, it cautions that when restraint (dama) and dharma weaken, violence expands beyond its intended bounds and threatens the whole moral and social order.
Sañjaya is describing the intensity of events on the battlefield through a grand simile: a blazing sun at cosmic dissolution scorching the earth—preparing the listener to understand the scale, terror, and inevitability of the destruction being witnessed.