Shloka 6.58.32
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 ।
medaḥ-phena-samākīrṇām ārta-stanita-svanām |
tāṃ kāpuruṣa-dustārāṃ yuddha-bhūmi-mayīṃ nadīm ||6.58.32||
Foam-like fat covered it everywhere, and the groans of the wounded became its rumbling sound. That river made of the battlefield was hard to cross for the cowardly.
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.
Dharma demands courage aligned with righteous purpose, not cowardice or panic. The ‘uncrossable for cowards’ line frames fear as an ethical failure when duty requires steadiness—yet the surrounding horror also implies that courage must be guided by right cause and discipline.
The battlefield-river image reaches its climax: the poet describes its ‘foam’ and ‘sound,’ then states it is difficult to traverse—setting up the next verse where warriors do cross it.
Vīrya (courage/fortitude) in the face of भय (fear), a key virtue for those acting in accordance with duty.