Shloka 79
तद् बल॑ भरतश्रेष्ठ वध्यमानं परस्परम् | रुधिरौघपरिक्लिन्नं रुधिरार्द्र बभूव ह
tad balaṁ bharataśreṣṭha vadhyamānaṁ parasparam | rudhiraughapariklinnaṁ rudhirārdrā babhūva ha ||
Sañjaya said: “O best of the Bharatas, that host, striking and being struck by one another, became drenched in streams of blood—soaked through and through with gore.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral and human cost of war: when combat becomes reciprocal slaughter, the battlefield turns into a scene of pervasive suffering. It implicitly cautions that even ‘dharma-war’ carries grave consequences and demands sober ethical reflection.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the opposing forces are killing each other in close combat, and the entire host has become drenched in blood, emphasizing the intensity and devastation of the fighting.