Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 15

रणभूमिवर्णनम् — Devāsuropama-yuddha and the ‘River’ Metaphor of the Battlefield

Devanagari script

संजय उवाच क्षयं मनुष्यदेहानां तथा नागाश्चवसंक्षयम्‌

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca kṣayaṃ manuṣya-dehānāṃ tathā nāgāś ca vasaṃkṣayam

Translation

Sañjaya said: “I beheld the wasting away of human bodies, and likewise the destruction of the elephants as well.”

Word by Word

• संजयः: Sanjaya
• संजयः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: संजय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• उवाच: said
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच्
• Form: Perfect, Third, Singular

• क्षयम्: destruction; loss
• क्षयम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षय
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• मनुष्यदेहानाम्: of human bodies
• Type: Noun
• Root: मनुष्यदेह
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• तथा: and also; likewise
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• नागाः: elephants
• नागाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नाग
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• व: indeed; also (enclitic)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: व

• संक्षयम्: complete destruction; annihilation
• संक्षयम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: संक्षय
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• humans (warriors)
• elephants (nāgāḥ)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the inevitability of bodily destruction in war, highlighting the ethical gravity of violence and the transient nature of physical life and power (including war-elephants).

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, as the eyewitness-reporter to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describes the battlefield scene where human fighters and elephants are being destroyed, emphasizing the scale of devastation.