Shloka 7
Adhyāya 17 — गजयुद्ध-वृत्तान्तः, सहदेव-दुःशासन-संघर्षः, नकुल-कर्ण-समागमः
Elephant-battle account; Sahadeva–Duhshasana clash; Nakula–Karna encounter
रथानधिष्ठाय सवाजिसारथीन् नरांश्व पादर्द्धिददो व्यपोथयत् | द्विपांश्न पद्धयां ममृदे करेण द्विपोत्तमो हन्ति च कालचक्रवत्
rathān adhiṣṭhāya savājisārathīn narānś ca pādair dṛḍhadāruṇo vyapothayat | dvipāṃś ca pādbhyāṃ mamṛde kareṇa dvipottamo hanti ca kālacakravat ||
三阇耶说道：那最上之象踏上战车，将战车连同战马与御者一并碾成齑粉；它以足践踏步兵，又以双足与长鼻磨碎群象。于是，这位象中之王如同“时间之轮”一般，开始歼灭敌军。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the battlefield reality that war unleashes a force resembling kāla (Time): overwhelming, indiscriminate, and difficult to restrain. Ethically, it highlights the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between dharma as an ideal and the brutal momentum of armed conflict, where immediate outcomes are driven by power and circumstance rather than moral discernment.
Sañjaya describes a mighty elephant rampaging through the opposing army: stepping onto chariots and crushing them along with horses and charioteers, trampling infantry, and grinding down other elephants with feet and trunk—likened to the inexorable wheel of Time destroying all before it.