Shloka 17
Kuru-Sainika-Āśvāsana and Vijayaghoṣaṇa
Reassuring the Kuru Soldiers; Proclaiming Victory
प्रावर्तयन्नदीं घोरां शोणितोदां तरज्षिणीम् | अस्थिशैवालसम्बाधां युगान्ते कालनिर्मिताम्
prāvartayannadīṃ ghorāṃ śoṇitodāṃ taraṅgiṇīm | asthiśaivālasambādhāṃ yugānte kālanirmitām |
Vaiśampāyana sprach: In jenem Augenblick setzte Pārtha (Arjuna) einen schrecklichen Strom in Bewegung—sein Wasser war Blut, und seine Wogen waren Blut. Von Knochen verstopft, als wären sie Algen, schien er ein Fluss, den die Zeit selbst (Kāla) am Ende eines Weltzeitalters geformt habe. Das Bild unterstreicht den moralischen Schrecken der Gewalt: Wenn der Zorn entfesselt wird, wirkt es, als gleite die Welt der Auflösung entgegen, als würde das Dharma selbst im Blut ertränkt.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses apocalyptic imagery—a river of blood clogged with bones—to warn that unchecked violence and rage resemble cosmic dissolution (yugānta). It implicitly contrasts such destruction with dharma, suggesting that adharma-driven conflict makes the world feel as though Time/Death itself has taken over.
The narrator describes a terrifying scene as if a river has been unleashed whose water is blood and whose obstructions are bones like algae. The description heightens the sense of catastrophic slaughter and frames it in cosmic terms by likening it to something created by Kāla at the end of an age.