तथा गजान् प्रभिन्नांश् च सुप्रभिन्ना महागजाः ॥
तस्मिन्न् एव पदे यत्ता निगृह्णन्ति स्म भारत ॥
सादी सादिनम् आसाद्य पदाती च पदातिनम् ॥
समासाद्य रणे ऽन्योन्यं संरब्धा नातिचक्रमुः ॥
धावतां द्रवतां चैव पुनर् आवर्तताम् अपि ॥
बभूव तत्र सैन्यानां शब्दः सुतुमुलो निशि ॥
दीप्यमानाः प्रदीपाश् च रथवारणवाजिषु ॥
अदृश्यन्त महाराज महोल्का इव खाच् च्युताः ॥
tathā gajān prabhinnāṃś ca suprabhinnā mahāgajāḥ ||
tasminn eva pade yattā nigṛhṇanti sma bhārata ||
sādī sādinam āsādya padātī ca padātinam ||
samāsādya raṇe 'nyonyaṃ saṃrabdhā nāticakramuḥ ||
dhāvatāṃ dravatāṃ caiva punar āvartatām api ||
babhūva tatra sainyānāṃ śabdaḥ sutumulo niśi ||
dīpyamānāḥ pradīpāś ca rathavāraṇavājiṣu ||
adṛśyanta mahārāja maholkā iva khāc cyutāḥ ||
Chariots, having overtaken chariots rushing ever more swiftly, many held them back, O king, as crows check locusts. So too the furious great elephants held back other furious elephants, standing their ground, O Bharata. A horseman, overtaking a horseman, and a footman a footman, having met each other in the fight, furious, did not give way. Of those advancing and those fleeing, and those turning back again, there arose there, among the hosts, a most tumultuous din in the night.
9e632cbbdf1e · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:49:34 PM UTC
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Each meets his equal and holds him "in that very place" - chariot against chariot, elephant against elephant, footman against footman: the battle freezes into thousands of locked pairs. It is significant that "they did not retreat": fury has riveted the fighters to one another. The verse teaches that enmity, carried to its limit, robs men of freedom of movement - the foes are bound fast to each other by hatred; and in this frozen tangle of combat is seen the terrible stillness of strife, which lets one move neither forward nor away.