Shloka 20
Chapter 23: Śakuni Reports, Kaurava Advance, and Arjuna’s Penetration of the Host
संहारे सर्वतो जाते पृथिव्यां शोकसम्भवे । बद्दीनामुत्तमस्त्रीणां सीमन्तोद्धरणे तथा
saṃhāre sarvato jāte pṛthivyāṃ śokasambhave | baddhīnām uttamastrīṇāṃ sīmanto-ddharaṇe tathā ||
सञ्जय उवाच—संहारे सर्वतो जाते पृथिव्यां शोकसम्भवे। बद्धीनामुत्तमस्त्रीणां सीमन्तोद्धरणे तथा॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
When war abandons restraint and dharmic limits, its harm is not only physical but social and moral: it spreads grief across the land, symbolized by the wiping away of women’s auspicious marks, and nature itself seems to warn through ominous signs.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield turning into all-sided carnage. The scale of death brings universal sorrow, including the bereavement of many women, and at that moment terrifying portents arise, signaling impending ruin.