संजय उवाच
तान् दृष्ट्वा चलितान् संख्ये प्रणुन्नान् द्रोणसायकैः ॥
पाञ्चालान् पाण्डवान् मत्स्यान् सृञ्जयांश् चेदिकेकयान् ॥
द्रोणचापविमुक्तेन शरौघेणासुहारिणा ॥
सिन्धोर् इव महौघेन ह्रियमाणान् यथा प्लवान् ॥
कौरवाः सिंहनादेन नानावाद्यस्वनेन च ॥
रथद्विपनराश्वैश् च सर्वतः पर्यवारयन् ॥
saṃjaya uvāca
tān dṛṣṭvā calitān saṃkhye praṇunnān droṇasāyakaiḥ ||
pāñcālān pāṇḍavān matsyān sṛñjayāṃś cedikekayān ||
droṇacāpavimuktena śaraugheṇāsuhāriṇā ||
sindhor iva mahaughena hriyamāṇān yathā plavān ||
kauravāḥ siṃhanādena nānāvādyasvanena ca ||
rathadvipanarāśvaiś ca sarvataḥ paryavārayan ||
At the sight of them — the Panchalas, Pandavas, Matsyas, Srinjayas, Chedis, and Kekayas — wavering in battle, driven back by Drona's arrows, swept away by the deadly torrent of arrows loosed from Drona's bow, like rafts by the great flood of a river, the Kauravas, with a lion's roar, with the din of every kind of music, with chariots, elephants, foot and horse, encircled them from all sides.
4242ef62f610 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:11:21 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The wavering peoples are likened to rafts swept away by a flood: the will of a multitude, once deprived of footing, gives itself to the current of disaster as a torn-loose raft gives itself to the stream. The Kauravas, for their part, close the ring "with a lion's roar and the din of music" — a triumph reveling in another's disarray. It is significant that the rout is depicted not as anyone's fault but as a force of nature: Drona's torrent of arrows carries men off as water carries. The verse teaches that in an hour of general panic a man easily loses himself and drifts wherever the common terror pulls him; that only one rooted more firmly than the current can withstand the flood; and that jubilation over a wavering enemy, loud and triumphant, is that very premature joy which tradition has more than once set against a sudden turn of fate.