Shloka 28
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
वर्तमाने तथा घोरे संकुले सर्वतोदिशम् । अविज्ञाता: सम युध्यन्ते विनिध्नन्त: परस्परम्,उस घोर घमासान युद्धके चालू होनेपर सम्पूर्ण योद्धा एक-दूसरेपर चोट करते हुए बिना जाने-पहचाने ही युद्ध करते थे
vartamāne tathā ghore saṅkule sarvatodiśam | avijñātāḥ sama yudhyante vinighnantaḥ parasparam ||
Sañjaya thưa: Khi trận chiến ghê rợn, hỗn loạn ấy bùng lên khắp mọi phía, các chiến binh—không còn nhận ra nhau—đánh nhau trong mù mịt, chém giết lẫn nhau giữa cơn rối loạn.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical and psychological breakdown that accompanies extreme violence: when battle becomes all-pervading and chaotic, recognition, restraint, and discriminative judgment (viveka) fail, leading to indiscriminate mutual slaughter—an implicit warning about war’s dehumanizing momentum.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield at a moment of intense confusion: the fighting is so fierce and disorderly in every direction that combatants cannot identify friend or foe and therefore strike each other without recognition, resulting in mutual killing.