अवधीत् पितरं पुत्रः पिता पुत्रं च भारत ॥
मत्ताः परिपतन्ति स्म पोथयन्तः परस्परम् ॥
पतंगा इव चाग्नौ ते न्यपतन् कुकुरान्धकाः ॥
नासीत् पलायने बुद्धिर् वध्यमानस्य कस्य चित् ॥
तं तु पश्यन् महाबाहुर् जानन् कालस्य पर्ययम् ॥
मुसलं समवष्टभ्य तस्थौ स मधुसूदनः ॥
साम्बं च निहतं दृष्ट्वा चारुदेष्णं च माधवः ॥
प्रद्युम्नं चानिरुद्धं च ततश् चुक्रोध भारत ॥
avadhīt pitaraṃ putraḥ pitā putraṃ ca bhārata ||
mattāḥ paripatanti sma pothayantaḥ parasparam ||
pataṃgā iva cāgnau te nyapatan kukurāndhakāḥ ||
nāsīt palāyane buddhir vadhyamānasya kasya cit ||
taṃ tu paśyan mahābāhur jānan kālasya paryayam ||
musalaṃ samavaṣṭabhya tasthau sa madhusūdanaḥ ||
sāmbaṃ ca nihataṃ dṛṣṭvā cārudeṣṇaṃ ca mādhavaḥ ||
pradyumnaṃ cāniruddhaṃ ca tataś cukrodha bhārata ||
Father was slaying son, and son was slaying father, O Bhārata; intoxicated, they fell, striking one another. Like moths into flame, the Kukuras and Andhakas fell; not one of those being slain had any thought of flight. Seeing this, the mighty-armed Madhusūdana stood with his club, knowing the reversal of time. Then, having seen Sāmba slain, and Cārudeṣṇa, O Mādhava, and Pradyumna and Aniruddha, he became enraged, O Bhārata.
0b06e1664a50 · published Jun 21, 2026, 1:15:00 AM UTC
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The madness reaches its apex: son slays father, and father slays son — the very foundation of kinship collapses, and the intoxicated rush to their deaths like moths into flame, none among the dying sparing a thought for escape. This is the supreme blindness that fate bestows upon the doomed. Krishna stands motionless with his club, recognizing in all this the reversal of time, and only at the death of His own sons — Sāmba, Pradyumna, Aniruddha — does He display wrath. When an end is decreed for a clan, a darkening strips the condemned even of the will to survive, and they rush toward destruction of their own accord; and the Lord, unmoved in the midst of madness as master of time, manifests human emotion — wrath at the sight of fallen sons — not from helplessness but as part of His līlā, in which He plays the role of a man.