Shloka 49
जयद्रथवधः — The Slaying of Jayadratha
Sunset Vow and Curse-Condition
कबन्न्धै: संवृतं सर्व ताम्रा भ्रे: खमिवावृतम् | जिनके सारे अंग खूनसे लथपथ हो रहे थे, उन कबन्धोंसे भरा हुआ वह सारा रफक्षेत्र लाल रंगके बादलोंसे ढके हुए आकाशके समान जान पड़ता था ।। वज्राशनिसमस्पर्श: सुपर्वभिरजिद्वागै:
kabaṇdhaiḥ saṃvṛtaṃ sarvaṃ tāmrābhraiḥ kham ivāvṛtam |
Sañjaya said: The entire battlefield was covered with headless trunks, their limbs smeared and streaming with blood; it looked like the sky veiled by copper-red clouds. The image underscores the moral cost of war—how violence, once unleashed, turns the field of duty into a landscape of horror that demands sober reflection on dharma and restraint.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse offers a stark ethical reminder: even when war is framed as a duty, its reality is gruesome and dehumanizing. By comparing the blood-red field to a cloud-covered sky, the text invites the listener to contemplate the heavy karmic and moral weight of violence and the need for discernment (dharma) rather than triumphalism.
Sañjaya, narrating the battle to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describes the battlefield as completely filled with headless trunks drenched in blood. The scene is so saturated with red that it resembles the sky covered by copper-colored clouds.