Shloka 15

Devanagari script

आकर्षन्त: शरीराणि शरीरावयवांस्तथा । नराश्वगजसंघानां शिरांसि च ततस्ततः:,मनुष्यों, घोड़ों तथा हाथियोंके समूहोंके सम्पूर्ण शरीरों और अवयवों एवं मस्तकोंको इधर-उधर खींचते थे

Transliteration

ākarṣantaḥ śarīrāṇi śarīrāvayavāṃs tathā | narāśvagajasaṅghānāṃ śirāṃsi ca tatastataḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: They were dragging about, here and there, the bodies and severed limbs, and also the heads of the masses of men, horses, and elephants—an image of the battlefield’s ruthless aftermath, where the frenzy of war reduces living beings to scattered remains.

Word by Word

आकर्षन्तःthey were dragging/pulling

शरीराणिbodies

शरीर-अवयवान्limbs (parts) of the body

तथाand; likewise

नर-अश्व-गज-संघानाम्of the groups of men, horses, and elephants

शिरांसिheads

चand

ततःfrom there; thence

ततःfrom there; thence (here: here and there)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

men (nara)

horses (aśva)

elephants (gaja)

bodies

limbs

heads

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 dehumanizing and indiscriminate devastation of war: humans and animals alike are reduced to bodies and fragments, prompting reflection on the moral cost and the transient nature of embodied life.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a grim battlefield scene in which combatants (or attendants) pull and drag scattered corpses, severed limbs, and heads of men, horses, and elephants from one place to another amid the chaos after intense fighting.