Shloka 32
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
मांसशोणितपड्किन्यो घोररूपा: सुदारुणा: । नदी: प्रवर्तयामासु: शोणितौघविवर्धिनी:
māṃsaśoṇitapaṅkinyo ghorarūpāḥ sudāruṇāḥ | nadīḥ pravartayāmāsuḥ śoṇitaughavivardhinīḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Rivers whose beds were mire of flesh and blood—terrible in form and exceedingly dreadful—were set flowing there, swelling with torrents of gore.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as a moral warning: when conflict abandons restraint and dharma, its consequences become monstrous—symbolized by rivers of blood and flesh—revealing the ethical cost of unchecked violence.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the horrific state of the battlefield: the slaughter is so immense that it is imagined as dreadful rivers flowing, thick with flesh and blood, their torrents increasing.