Shloka 4

अभिमन्युवधः

Abhimanyu’s Fall and the Battlefield Aftermath

Devanagari script

तावुभौ शरचित्राड्रौ रुधिरेण समुक्षितौ | बभूवतुर्महात्मानौ पुष्पिताविव किंशुकौ,उन दोनोंके शरीर बाणोंसे व्याप्त होनेके कारण विचित्र दिखायी देते थे। दोनों ही रक्तसे भींग गये तथा वे दोनों महामनस्वी वीर फूलोंसे भरे हुए पलाश-वृक्षके समान प्रतीत होते थे

Transliteration

tāv ubhau śaracitrāḍrau rudhireṇa samukṣitau | babhūvatur mahātmānau puṣpitāv iva kiṃśukau ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: Both of those great-souled warriors, their bodies made strangely patterned by a dense spread of arrows and drenched in blood, appeared like kiṃśuka (palāśa) trees in full bloom—beautiful to behold, yet born of the terrible harvest of battle.

Word by Word

तौthose two

उभौboth

शर-चित्र-अद्रौon the arrow-variegated mountains (i.e., on the two hills made/covered with arrows)

रुधिरेणwith blood

समुक्षितौsprinkled/drenched

बभूवतुःbecame / were

महात्मानौthe two great-souled (heroes)

पुष्पितौin bloom / flowered

इवlike, as if

किंशुकौtwo palāśa trees (Butea monosperma)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

arrows (śara)

blood (rudhira)

kiṃśuka/palāśa tree

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 highlights a recurring epic tension: the battlefield can produce scenes of striking beauty (the palāśa-in-bloom simile) while remaining ethically tragic. It invites reflection on kṣatriya-dharma—valor and endurance—alongside the cost of violence, showing how glory and suffering coexist.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes two opposing warriors locked in combat. Their bodies are thickly pierced with arrows and soaked in blood, making them look ‘patterned’ and red—like kiṃśuka (palāśa) trees covered with blossoms.