Shloka 44
योधग्राहवतीं संख्ये वहन्तीं यमसादनम् । क्षणेन पुरुषव्याप्र: प्रावर्तयत निम्नगाम्
sañjaya uvāca |
yodhagrāhavatīṃ saṅkhye vahantīṃ yamasādanam |
kṣaṇena puruṣavyāghraḥ prāvartayata nimnagām ||
Sañjaya said: In that battle, a river—crowded with warrior-crocodiles—was seen flowing toward the abode of Yama. In but a moment, Bhīmasena, the tiger among men, set that downward-flowing stream in motion: a dreadful river of blood like the Vaitaraṇī, easy to cross for the steadfast and hard to ford for the fearful, intensifying the terror of the faint-hearted amid the ruin of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the image of a blood-river flowing toward Yama’s realm to underscore the moral gravity of war: violence rapidly becomes a current carrying beings toward death, and courage or fear shapes one’s ability to face that reality. It implicitly warns that adharma and cowardice make the passage through suffering ‘difficult,’ while steadiness and resolve make it ‘fordable’—a moral contrast highlighted by the Vaitaraṇī comparison in the traditional gloss.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield as if a river is flowing to the abode of Death, filled with ‘crocodiles’ in the form of warriors. In context, Bhīma’s fierce onslaught is said to have, in a moment, produced a terrifying ‘river of blood,’ likened to the Vaitaraṇī, amplifying panic among the timid.