Shloka 17
चक्रकूर्मा गदानक्रां शरक्षुद्रमझषाकुलाम् । बकगृध्रसृगालानां घोरसंघैर्निषेविताम्,उसमें रथोंके पहिये कछुओंके समान, गदाएँ नाकोंके समान और बाण छोटी-छोटी मछलियोंके समान भरे हुए थे। बगलों, गीधों और गीदड़ोंके भयानक समुदाय उसके तटपर निवास करते थे
cakrakūrmā gadānakrā śarakṣudramajhaṣākulām | bakagṛdhrasṛgālānāṃ ghorasaṅghair niṣevitām ||
Sañjaya said: “It was like a dreadful river: its wheels were as tortoises, its maces as crocodiles, and it swarmed with arrows like shoals of tiny fish. Along its banks lurked terrifying flocks of herons, vultures, and jackals.” In this war-imagery, the battlefield is portrayed as a predatory ecosystem where weapons and scavengers together signify the moral horror and inevitable aftermath of violence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical gravity of war by depicting it as a monstrous ‘river’ where weapons become predators and scavengers gather—suggesting that violence inevitably breeds suffering, death, and moral dread beyond immediate victory or defeat.
Sañjaya is describing the Kurukṣetra battlefield to Dhṛtarāṣṭra using extended aquatic metaphors: chariot-wheels appear like tortoises, maces like crocodiles, arrows like swarming fish, and the banks are haunted by herons, vultures, and jackals—evoking a scene of carnage and its aftermath.