Shloka 18
Sainyavinyāsa–Lakṣaṇa (Disposition of Armies and Battlefield Omens) | सैन्यविन्यास–लक्षणम्
संव्यूह् मानुषं व्यूहं दैवं गान्धर्वमासुरम् दिवसे दिवसे प्राप्ते भीष्म: शान्तनवोडग्रणी:
saṃvyūhya mānuṣaṃ vyūhaṃ daivaṃ gāndharvam āsuram | divase divase prāpte bhīṣmaḥ śāntanavo 'grāṇīḥ ||
Sinabi ni Sañjaya: Sa pagdating ng bawat araw, si Bhīṣma—anak ni Śāntanu at pinakapanguna sa mga pinuno—ay inaayos ang hukbo ng mga Kaurava sa sunud-sunod na mga pormasyon ng labanan: pantao, pang-diyos, tulad ng gandharva, at mala-asura. Kaya siya’y nakatindig sa unahan ng hukbo, humuhubog sa estratehiya ng araw at nagtatakda ng himig ng digmaan sa pamamagitan ng mahigpit na kaayusan at nakapanghihilakbot na lakas-militar.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights disciplined leadership and strategic order in war: day by day, the commander adapts formations to circumstances. Ethically, it underscores the kṣatriya sphere where duty is carried out through organization and resolve, even amid morally fraught conflict.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Bhīṣma, leading the Kauravas, arranges the army each day in different named formations—human, divine, gandharva, and asura—taking position at the front as the battle’s guiding commander.