Shloka 62
बक-गौतमाख्यानम् / The Baka–Gautama Account
On Gratitude and Friendship Ethics
बभूव भू: प्रतिभया मांसशोणितकर्दमा । वह अत्यन्त दारुण महान् युद्ध आरम्भ होनेपर पृथ्वीपर रक्त और मांसकी कीच जम गयी। जिससे वह अत्यन्त भयंकर प्रतीत होने लगी ।।
babhūva bhūḥ pratibhayā māṁsaśoṇitakardamā | dānavānāṁ śarīraiś ca patitaiḥ śoṇitokṣitaiḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “When the great battle began, the earth became a mire of flesh and blood. Strewn with the fallen bodies of the Danavas, drenched in gore, the ground itself appeared exceedingly dreadful.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the horrific, dehumanizing reality of war: it transforms the earth into a blood-soaked mire. In the Shanti Parva’s ethical atmosphere, such imagery functions as a moral warning—victory and duty claims cannot erase the immense suffering and degradation produced by violence.
Bhishma describes the onset of a great battle: the ground becomes muddy with flesh and blood, and is covered with fallen, blood-drenched bodies of the Danavas, making the scene appear extremely terrifying.