Shloka 23
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 49: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament and Strategic Foreboding after Abhimanyu’s Fall
तस्मिन् विनिहते वीरे बह्नशो भत मेदिनी । द्यौर्यथा पूर्णचन्द्रेण नक्षत्रणणमालिनी,वीर अभिमन्युके मारे जानेपर वह रणभूमि पूर्ण चन्द्रमासे युक्त तथा नक्षत्रमालाओंसे अलंकृत आकाशकी भाँति बड़ी शोभा पा रही थी
tasmin vinihate vīre bahnaśo bhāti medinī | dyaur yathā pūrṇacandreṇa nakṣatragaṇamālinī ||
Sañjaya said: When that heroic warrior was slain, the earth shone forth in many ways—like the sky adorned with a full moon and garlanded with clusters of stars.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a moral tension central to the Mahābhārata: war can possess a deceptive outward brilliance (poetic beauty, heroic spectacle) even as it entails profound loss. The ethical undertone is that aesthetic splendor does not redeem adharma or the tragedy of a righteous warrior’s fall.
Sañjaya describes the scene after a great hero has been killed (in this context, Abhimanyu). He uses a simile: the earth/battlefield appears radiant, like the night sky illuminated by the full moon and decorated with stars—an image that intensifies the poignancy of the moment.