Shloka 61
Arjuna’s Advance toward Bhīṣma; The Gāṇḍīva’s Signal and the Armies’ Convergence (भीष्माभिमुखगमनम् — गाण्डीवनिर्घोष-ध्वजवर्णनम्)
परिपेतु: सुसंरब्धाश्षतुर्वष्टा श्वतुर्दिशम् । महाबली राक्षसोंद्वारा प्रेरित अन्यान्य दिग्गज भी जिनके चार-चार दाँत थे, अत्यन्त कुपित हो चारों दिशाओंमें टूट पड़े |। ६० हू ।।
sañjaya uvāca | paripetuḥ susaṃrabdhāś caturdaṃṣṭrāś caturdiśam | mahābalī rākṣasair dvārā preritā anyāny diggajāḥ | bhagadattasya taṃ nāgaṃ viṣāṇair abhyapīḍayan | te sarve bhagadattasya hastinaṃ dantair pīḍayām āsuḥ | sa bāṇair bahuviddhaḥ san ebhir gajaiḥ pīḍitaḥ vedanābhibhūto mahānādaṃ cakāra | tasya śabda indrasya vajragarjitasamaḥ pratibhāti |
三阇耶说道：那些四牙巨象在狂怒与战狂中，受强大罗刹的驱策，向四方奔突冲杀。它们以象牙与角抵压婆伽达多的战象，从四面八方折磨它。那巨兽早已被无数箭矢贯穿；又遭群象围攻压迫，痛楚难当，遂发出震天长吼——其声宛如因陀罗金刚杵的雷霆轰鸣。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how rage and external incitement can turn strength into cruelty, producing widespread suffering. In the Mahābhārata’s ethical horizon, battlefield prowess is not celebrated in isolation; it is shown alongside its cost—pain, loss of control, and the dehumanizing momentum of war.
Sañjaya describes a surge of war-elephants—four-tusked and maddened—driven by rākṣasas, charging in all directions and attacking Bhagadatta’s elephant. Already wounded by arrows, Bhagadatta’s elephant is further tormented by tusks and horns and roars in agony, its cry likened to Indra’s thunder.