Verse 1.13

ततः शङ्खाश्च भेर्यश्च पणवानकगोमुखाः ।

सहसैवाभ्यहन्यन्त स शब्दस्तुमुलोऽभवत् ॥

1.13

Transliteration

tataḥ śaṅkhāśca bheryaśca paṇavānakagomukhāḥ |

sahasaivābhyahanyanta sa śabdastumulo'bhavat ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

Then (following Bhishma), conches and kettledrums, tabors, drums and cow horns blared forth ite suddenly (from the Kaurava side) and the sound was tremendous.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

then
conches
and
kettledrums
and
tabors drums and horns

suddenly
all at once
were sounded
that
sound
tumultuous
became

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

Following Bhishma's signal, the whole Kaurava army takes up the sound. Sanjaya lists the instruments of war: conches, kettledrums, small drums, large drums and cow-horn trumpets, all struck at once. The word tumula describes a confused, overwhelming roar. The verse builds the atmosphere of the battlefield, loud and charged, before the narrative turns to the Pandava side. It also sets a contrast with the silence and inner struggle that will soon take hold of Arjuna in the middle of this noise.