Shloka 10
शरप्रहाराभिहतैर्महाबलै- रवेक्ष्यममाणै: पतितै: सहस्रश: । दिवश्ष्युतैर्भूरतिदीप्तिमद्धि- नक्त ग्रहैद्यौरमलप्रदीप्तै:
śaraprahārābhihatair mahābalair avekṣyamāṇaiḥ patitaiḥ sahasraśaḥ | divaś cyutair bhūr atidīptimadbhir naktagrahair dyauḥ amalapradīptaiḥ ||
Śalya sprach: „Von Pfeilsalven getroffen liegen tausende mächtige Krieger gefallen da, nicht mehr fähig, um sich zu blicken. Sie erscheinen wie strahlend helle, makellos reine Sterne, die vom Himmel herabgestürzt sind; und die Erde, von ihnen bedeckt, ist geschmückt wie der Nachthimmel, erfüllt von leuchtenden Sternbildern.“
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grim cost of war: even the mighty fall in heaps. Yet it also reflects the epic’s ethical tension—kṣatriya valor and duty unfold amid profound human loss, which the poet renders with awe-inspiring but unsettling beauty.
Śalya describes the battlefield after intense arrow-fire: thousands of powerful fighters have been struck and lie fallen. Their bodies, gleaming with armor and weapons, are compared to bright, pure stars fallen from the sky, making the earth resemble a star-filled night.