Shloka 34
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 95 — Sātyaki’s Breakthrough and the Routing of Allied Contingents
तैः शिरोभिममही कीर्णा बाहुभिश्न सहाडुदै: । बभौ कनकपाषाणा भुजगैरिव संवृता,उस समय उन मस्तकों और भुजबंदसहित भुजाओंसे आच्छादित हुई वहाँकी भूमि सर्पोंसे घिरी हुई स्वर्ण-प्रस्तरयुक्त भूमिके समान शोभा पा रही थी
taiḥ śirobhir mahī kīrṇā bāhubhiś ca sahāṅgadaiḥ | babhau kanakapāṣāṇā bhujagair iva saṃvṛtā ||
Sañjaya said: The earth there was strewn with severed heads and with arms still bearing armlets. Covered in this way, the battlefield looked like a ground set with golden rocks, as though encircled by serpents.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse offers a stark ethical contrast: the same ornaments that signify status and martial pride (armlets) become mere debris when life is destroyed. Through a vivid simile, it points to the futility and moral cost of violence—how war can appear ‘splendid’ in description yet is fundamentally a scene of ruin.
Sañjaya narrates the battlefield’s condition: the ground is littered with severed heads and arms still wearing armlets. He compares the scene to a terrain studded with golden stones and surrounded by serpents, emphasizing both the density of fallen limbs and the terrifying atmosphere after intense combat.