Shloka 8
Bhīmasena’s Kalinga Engagement and the Approach of Bhīṣma (भीमसेन-कालिङ्ग-संग्रामः)
अभिसृत्य महाराज वेगवद्धिर्महागजै: । दन्तैरभिहतास्तत्र चुक्रुशु: परमातुरा:
abhisṛtya mahārāja vegavaddhir mahāgajaiḥ | dantair abhihatās tatra cukruśuḥ paramāturāḥ ||
Wika ni Sañjaya: O Hari, sa paglusob nila nang ubod-bilis, maraming elepante roon ang nagsalpukan sa malalaki at matutuling elepanteng pandigma; nang tamaan ng kanilang mga pangil, umalingawngaw ang kanilang sigaw sa matinding paghihirap—larawang naglalarawan ng walang-humpay na dahas ng digmaan at ng pagdurusang sumusunod sa poot ng pakikidigma.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the immediate human-and-animal cost of war: even mighty creatures become helpless in pain. It implicitly cautions that martial power and speed, when driven into collision, culminate in suffering—an ethical reminder embedded within the epic’s war narrative.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that elephants on the battlefield rush into combat, clash with great swift elephants, and, wounded by tusk-blows, cry out in intense agony.