Shloka 44

Devanagari script

विषमं च सम॑ चैव हतैरश्चपदातिभि:

Transliteration

viṣamaṃ ca samaṃ caiva hatair aśva-padātibhiḥ

Translation

Sañjaya said: “The ground became uneven and level alike—churned and strewn everywhere by the fallen horses and foot-soldiers.”

Word by Word

• विषमम्: uneven, irregular
• विषमम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विषम
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• समम्: even, level
• समम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सम
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed, just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• हतैः: by the slain (killed ones)
• हतैः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: हत
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Instrumental, Plural

• अश्व: horse
• Type: Noun
• Root: अश्व
• Form: Masculine, Stem (compound member), —

• पदातिभिः: by foot-soldiers
• पदातिभिः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: पदाति
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• horses (aśva)
• foot-soldiers (padāti)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the moral and existential cost of war: slaughter reduces the battlefield to a featureless ruin where distinctions (even/uneven, order/disorder) collapse—hinting at the leveling power of death and the heavy karmic weight of violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the battlefield’s condition during the fighting: it is littered with the slain—horses and infantry—so that the terrain appears both uneven and level, trampled and transformed by the carnage.