Shloka 6.58.30
प्रहस्तवधः (The Slaying of Prahasta)
हतवीरौघवस्रांतुभग्नायुधमहाद्रुमाम् ।।6.58.29।।शोणितौघमहातोयांयमसागरगामिनीम् ।यकृत् प्लीहमहापङ्कान्वििकीर्णान्त्रशैवलाम् ।।6.58.30।।भिन्नकायशिरोमीनामङ्गावयवशाद्वलाम् ।गृध्रहंसगणाकीर्णांकङ्कसारससेविताम् ।।6.58.31।।मेदःफेनसमाकीर्णामार्तस्न्तितस्वनाम् ।तांकापुरषुदुस्तारांयुद्धभूमिमयींनदीम् ।।6.58.32।।नदीमिवघनापायेहंससारससेविताम् ।राक्षसाःकपिमुख्याश्चतेरुस्तांदुस्तरांनदीम् ।।6.58.33।।यथापद्मरजोध्वस्तांनळिनींगजयूथपाः ।
śoṇitaugha-mahā-toyāṃ yama-sāgara-gāminīm |
yakṛt-plīha-mahā-paṅkāṃ vikīrṇāntra-śaivalām ||6.58.30||
It was like a river whose vast waters were torrents of blood, flowing toward the ocean of Yama (death)—with liver and spleen as its deep mire, and scattered entrails drifting like water-weeds.
Heaps of slain leaders as banks, broken weapons like large trees, torrents of blood as vast stretch of water, liver and spleens as its mire, scattered entrails as duckweeds, severed trunks and heads as fish, fingers and parts of limbs as grass, crowded with swans in the form of vultures, frequented with cranes in the shape of buzzards, overspread with f at in the form of foam, groans of the wounded for its murmur, difficult to cross for cowards, frequented by swans and cranes, that battlefield of river flowed. The Rakshasas and Vanaras swam across the river even though it were difficult to cross as leaders of elephant herds would cross a lotus pond covered with pollen of lotuses.
The verse underscores the moral cost of violence: war, even when fought for a righteous end, produces horrific suffering and death. It cautions that adharma-driven conflict inevitably ‘flows toward Yama,’ reminding rulers and warriors that Dharma must restrain cruelty and needless slaughter.
In the midst of the Laṅkā war, the battlefield is poetically depicted as a dreadful river made of blood and human remains, conveying the scale and terror of the fighting.
Not a single character’s virtue, but a Dharmic sensibility: sober awareness, compassion, and restraint—recognizing that righteous aims do not erase the tragedy of war.