Shloka 29
आयोधनदर्शनम्
Viewing the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra
अवध्यकल्पान् निहतान् गतसत्त्वानचेतस: । गृधप्रकडुकवटश्येनश्वशृूगालादनीकृतान्,“जो अवध्य समझे जाते थे, वे भी मारे गये और अचेत एवं प्राणशून्य होकर यहाँ पड़े हैं। गीध, कंक, बटेर, बाज, कुत्ते और सियार उन्हें अपना आहार बना रहे हैं
avadhyakalpān nihatān gatasattvān acetasaḥ | gṛdhaprakaḍukavaṭaśyenaśvaśṛgālādanīkṛtān ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Those who were thought to be virtually invincible have been slain. Now senseless and bereft of life, they lie here, made into prey—food for vultures, herons, quails, hawks, dogs, and jackals.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of human power and reputation: even those believed ‘unslayable’ fall in war, and the body—once the seat of pride and prowess—becomes mere carrion. Ethically, it intensifies the Mahābhārata’s warning about the dehumanizing cost of violence and the impermanence of worldly might.
In the Strī Parva’s lament-filled aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war, the narrator describes the battlefield scene: corpses of fallen heroes lie lifeless and unconscious, while scavenging animals and birds feed on them, heightening the horror and grief of the survivors.