Shloka 17
अभिमन्योर् विक्रमः — Abhimanyu’s Disruptive Advance and the Gāndharva-astra Counter
अनुकर्ष: पताकाभिस्तथा सारथिवाजिभि: । रथैश्न भग्नैनगिश्ष हतै: की्णाभवन्मही,काटकर गिराये हुए हार, आभूषण, वस्त्र, विशाल भुजा, कवच, ढाल, मनोहर मुकुट, छत्र, चँवर, आवश्यक सामग्री, रथकी बैठक, ईषादण्ड, बन्धुर, चूर-चूर हुई धुरी, टूटे हुए पहिये, टूक-टूक हुए जूए, अनुकर्ष, पताका, सारथि, अश्व, टूटे हुए रथ और मरे हुए हाथियोंसे वहाँकी सारी पृथ्वी आच्छादित हो गयी थी
sañjaya uvāca | anukarṣaiḥ patākābhis tathā sārathivājibhiḥ | rathaiś ca bhagnaiḥ nāgaiś ca hataiḥ kīrṇābhavan mahī ||
Sañjaya said: The earth there became completely strewn and covered with the wreckage of war—drag-ropes and standards, charioteers and horses, shattered chariots, and slain elephants. The scene proclaims the moral cost of battle: glory and power collapse into debris, and the field itself bears witness to the ruin that violence spreads over all.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical gravity of war: the instruments of pride and victory—banners, chariots, horses, elephants—end as scattered wreckage. It implicitly warns that violence leaves a universal residue of loss, making the battlefield a moral testimony to impermanence and suffering.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield after intense fighting: the ground is covered with drag-ropes, fallen standards, charioteers, horses, broken chariots, and dead elephants—an image of overwhelming carnage and ruin.