Shloka 6.44.15
चतुश्चत्वारिंशः सर्गः (Sarga 44): निशायुद्धम्, धूलिरुधिरप्रवाहः, इन्द्रजितो मायायुद्धम्
हतैर्वानरवीरैश्चशक्तिशूलपरश्वधैः ।।6.44.14।।निहतैःपर्वताकारैराक्षसैःकामरूपिभिः ।शस्त्रपुष्पोपहाराचतत्रासीद्युद्धमेदिनी ।।6.44.15।।दुर् ज्ञेयादुर्निवेशाचशोणितास्रावकर्दमा ।
hatair vānaravīraiś ca śaktiśūlaparaśvadhaiḥ ||6.44.14||
nihataiḥ parvatākārair rākṣasaiḥ kāmarūpibhiḥ |
śastrapuṣpopahārā ca tatrāsīd yuddhamedīnī ||6.44.15||
durjñeyā durniveśā ca śoṇitāsrāvakardamā |
The battlefield lay heaped with slain Vānara heroes and with shapeshifting Rākṣasas, fallen like mountains. There the earth of war seemed strewn with an offering of “flowers of weapons,” and it became hard to discern and to cross, turned into a mire of flowing blood.
There with warriors of Vanaras wounded by javelins, tridents and axes, and the Rakshasas of mountain size who could change their form at will, the battlefield was muddy, and wet with blood flowing and difficult to reach.
The repetition itself reinforces the ethical emphasis: war’s aftermath is not romanticized; dharma demands remembering consequences and preventing violence from becoming self-justifying.
A recensional duplication reiterates the battlefield’s condition—strewn with the dead and made impassable by blood and debris.
Reflective awareness: the epic presses the listener to contemplate suffering as part of ethical judgment.