Shloka 63
बक-गौतमाख्यानम् / The Baka–Gautama Account
On Gratitude and Friendship Ethics
समाकीर्णा महाबाहो शैलैरिव सकिंशुकै: । महाबाहो! खूनसे लथपथ होकर गिरी हुई दानवोंकी लाशोंसे ढकी हुई यह भूमि पलाशके फूलोंसे युक्त पर्वत-शिखरोंद्वारा आच्छादित-सी जान पड़ती थी ।।
samākīrṇā mahābāho śailair iva sakiṃśukaiḥ | mahābāho! khūnase lathapatha hokara girī huī dānavoṃkī lāśoṃse ḍhakī huī iyaṃ bhūmi palāśake phūloṃse yukta parvata-śikharoṃdvārā ācchāditā-sī jāṇa paṛtī thī || 62 ī || sa rudro dānavān hatvā kṛtvā dharmottaraṃ jagat ||
Bhishma said: “O mighty-armed one, the ground—strewn everywhere—looked as though it were covered with mountain-peaks adorned with kiṃśuka (palāśa) blossoms; in truth it was blanketed by the fallen corpses of Dānavas, drenched in blood. Having slain the Dānavas, Rudra made the world once again incline toward dharma, restoring moral order after the devastation.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when destruction is severe, the narrative frames divine force as ultimately aimed at re-establishing dharma—making the world 'dharmottara', i.e., guided by moral order rather than adharma.
Bhishma describes a battlefield-like scene where the earth is covered with the blood-soaked bodies of Dānavas, visually compared to mountains topped with red palāśa blossoms; then he states that Rudra, after killing the Dānavas, restored the world’s orientation toward dharma.