Shloka 11
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
भिन्नानां चोत्तमाड़ानां बाहूनां चोरुभि: सह । कुण्डलानां प्रवृद्धानां भूषणानां च भारत
bhinnānāṁ cottamāṅgānāṁ bāhūnāṁ corubhiḥ saha | kuṇḍalānāṁ pravṛddhānāṁ bhūṣaṇānāṁ ca bhārata ||
Sañjaya said: “O Bhārata, the ground was strewn with severed heads, and with arms and thighs, along with great, prominent earrings and other ornaments. The battlefield displayed the grim consequence of unchecked wrath and rivalry—where valor and pride alike were reduced to lifeless fragments, warning how adharma-driven conflict turns all worldly splendor into ruin.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the impermanence of bodily beauty and worldly adornment: in war driven by adharma, even valor and splendor collapse into destruction, urging reflection on restraint, right conduct, and the cost of hatred.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, emphasizing the horrific scene—severed heads, limbs, and scattered ornaments—conveying the scale and brutality of the fighting in the Karṇa Parva.