Shloka 15

Devanagari script

अन्योन्यमपि चाजघ्नुरात्मानमपि चापरे । पार्थभूतममन्यन्त जगत्‌ कालेन मोहिता:

Transliteration

anyonyam api cājaghnur ātmānam api cāpare | pārthabhūtam amanyanta jagat kālena mohitāḥ ||

Translation

सञ्जय उवाच—कालेन मोहिता तेऽन्योन्यमपि चाजघ्नुः, अपरे चात्मानमपि विनिघ्नन्ति; जगच्च पार्थभूतमिव मन्यन्ते स्म तस्मिन् मोहसमाकुले।

Word by Word

अन्योन्यम्one another (each other)

अपिalso/even

चand

अजघ्नुःthey struck/killed

आत्मानम्themselves

अपिalso/even

चand

अपरेothers

पार्थभूतम्having become Arjuna / as if Arjuna

अमन्यन्तthey thought/considered

जगत्the world

कालेनby Time

मोहिताःdeluded

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

kāla (Time/Fate)

jagat (the world)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

When minds are overwhelmed by moha and the pressure of kāla, ethical discernment collapses: violence turns indiscriminate, even self-destructive, and the world itself is perceived as an enemy field.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya describes the battlefield’s frenzy: combatants, confused by the momentum of war and fate, kill each other relentlessly, and some even bring about their own destruction, seeing everything around them as part of the hostile battle.