Shloka 20

Devanagari script

क्रव्यादसड्घैराकीर्ण मृतैरर्धमृतैरपि । नासीद्‌ रथपथत्तत्र सर्वमायोधन प्रति,कहीं कच्चा मांस खानेवाले प्राणियोंका समुदाय भरा था, कहीं मरे और अधमरे जीव पड़े थे। इन सबके कारण उस सारी युद्धभूमिमें कहीं भी रथ जानेके लिये रास्ता नहीं मिलता था

Transliteration

kravyādasaṅghair ākīrṇaṃ mṛtair ardhamṛtair api | nāsīd rathapathas tatra sarvam āyodhanaṃ prati ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: The battlefield was choked with packs of flesh-eating creatures, and strewn with the dead and even the half-dead. Because of all this, throughout that entire field of combat there was nowhere a chariot could find a clear path.

Word by Word

क्रव्यादसङ्घैःby groups of flesh-eaters

आकीर्णःfilled, strewn

मृतैःwith the dead

अर्धमृतैःwith the half-dead

अपिalso, even

नnot

आसीत्was, existed

रथपथःa chariot-road, passage for chariots

तत्रthere

सर्वम्entire, all

आयोधनम्battlefield

प्रतिtowards, with regard to

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

ratha (chariot)

āyodhana (battlefield)

kravyāda (carrion-eaters)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the ethical devastation of war: when violence peaks, even basic order and respect for life and the fallen collapse. The blocked chariot-path becomes a symbol of how adharma and unchecked slaughter obstruct right action and humane conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the immediate aftermath on the battlefield: carrion-eaters gather, bodies and grievously wounded lie everywhere, and the terrain is so clogged with corpses and chaos that chariots cannot move through the fighting ground.