Shloka 56

कर्णार्जुनसमागमः — The Karṇa–Arjuna Confrontation

Cosmic Spectatorship and Vows

Devanagari script

धावतां च ततो राजंस्त्रस्तानां च समन्‍्तत:ः । आर्तनादो महांस्तत्र भूतानामिव सम्प्लवे,पुरुषसिंह! वे श्रेष्ठ योद्धा व्याप्रोंके समान चीत्कार करते थे। राजन! युद्धके मुहानेपर भयभीत हो चिल्लाते और डरकर सब ओर भागते हुए उन सैनिकोंका महान्‌ आर्तनाद प्रलयकालमें समस्त प्राणियोंके चीत्कारके समान जान पड़ता था

Transliteration

dhāvatāṃ ca tato rājan trastānāṃ ca samantataḥ | ārtanādo mahāṃs tatra bhūtānām iva samplave, puruṣasiṃha |

Translation

धावतां च ततो राजंस्त्रस्तानां च समन्ततः। आर्तनादो महान् तत्र भूतानामिव सम्प्लवे॥

Word by Word

• {'dhāvatām': 'of those running/fleeing (genitive plural present participle)', 'tataḥ': 'then

• thereafter', 'rājan': 'O king (vocative)', 'trastānām': 'of the frightened/terrified (genitive plural)', 'samantataḥ': 'on all sides

• everywhere', 'ārtanādaḥ': 'cry of distress

• lamentation', 'mahān': 'great

• immense', 'tatra': 'there', 'bhūtānām': 'of living beings

• creatures', 'iva': 'as if

• like', 'samplave': 'in a flood

• at dissolution/cataclysm (contextually: pralaya-like catastrophe)', 'puruṣasiṃha': 'O lion among men (vocative epithet)'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'rājan')
• soldiers/warriors (collective)
• pralaya/samplava (cosmic dissolution imagery)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the human cost of war: when courage collapses, even trained fighters become overwhelmed by fear, and the battlefield turns into a scene of universal suffering—evoked through the pralaya-like image. It implicitly warns that violence unleashes collective anguish beyond individual heroism.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the king that troops, terrified, are fleeing in all directions. Their cries of distress swell into a massive uproar, compared to the lamentation of all beings during a cosmic catastrophe.