Shloka 6
आयोधनदर्शनम्
Viewing the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra
गजाश्वरथयोधानामावृतं रुधिराविलै: । शरीरैरशिरस्कैश्न विदेहैश्षन शिरोगणै:,हाथीसवार, घुड़सवार तथा रथी योद्धाओंके रक्तसे मलिन हुए बिना सिरके अगणित धड़ और बिना धड़के असंख्य मस्तक उस रणभूमिको ढँके हुए थे
gajāśvarathayodhānām āvṛtaṁ rudhirāvilaiḥ | śarīrair aśiraskaiś ca videhaiś ca śirogaṇaiḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: The battlefield was covered over—fouled with blood—by the warriors of elephants, horses, and chariots: countless headless trunks and, apart from them, heaps of severed heads. The scene underscores the moral cost of war, where valor and victory are inseparable from widespread, dehumanizing slaughter.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical and human cost of war: even when fought under claims of dharma, its aftermath is marked by indiscriminate destruction and the reduction of persons to mutilated bodies, prompting moral reflection and grief.
Vaiśampāyana describes the post-battle scene: the ground is blanketed by blood and by the remains of elephant-, horse-, and chariot-warriors—headless trunks and piles of severed heads—emphasizing the scale of carnage.