Shloka 50

Devanagari script

प्रेताश्नैव पिशाचाश्न क्रव्यादाश्च॒ मृगाण्डजा:

Transliteration

pretāśnaiva piśācāśna kravyādāś ca mṛgāṇḍajāḥ

Translation

روى سنجيا أن ساحة القتال غدت مروِّعة إلى حدٍّ أن الكائنات التي تقتات على الموتى—الغِيلان وآكلو اللحم ومخلوقاتٌ وُلدت من بيضِ وحوش البرّ—انجذبت إليها لتلتهم الساقطين.

Word by Word

• प्रेताश्नाः: corpse-eaters
• प्रेताश्नाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रेताश्न
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• एव: indeed/just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• पिशाचाश्नाः: flesh-eaters like piśācas / piśāca-eaters
• पिशाचाश्नाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पिशाचाश्न
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• क्रव्यादाः: raw-flesh eaters/carrion-eaters
• क्रव्यादाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्रव्याद
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

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

• मृगाण्डजाः: those born from deer-eggs (a class of beings)
• मृगाण्डजाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मृगाण्डज
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• pretas (the dead/departed)
• piśācas
• kravyādas
• mṛgāṇḍajāḥ (egg-born wild creatures)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical degradation of war: mass killing creates conditions where death-feeding forces gather, symbolizing how adharma and unchecked violence turn the battlefield into a realm of horror rather than heroism.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya is describing the aftermath/atmosphere of the fighting in the Karṇa Parva: the field is strewn with corpses, attracting ghouls, flesh-eaters, and scavenging creatures—an ominous depiction of the war’s brutality.