Shloka 6.58.33
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 ।
nadīm iva ghanāpāye haṃsa-sārasa-sevitām |
rākṣasāḥ kapi-mukhyāś ca terus tāṃ dustarāṃ nadīm ||6.58.33||
Like a river at the waning of the rainy season, visited by swans and cranes, the Rākṣasas and the foremost of the Vānara host crossed that hard-to-ford river—the battlefield.
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 highlights resolve and discipline in action: once conflict is joined, warriors (on both sides) move through danger with determination. In Dharmic terms, courage is necessary, but it is ethically meaningful only when yoked to a just aim and truthful self-awareness (satya) about the suffering involved.
After describing the battlefield as an uncrossable river, the narration states that both sides’ fighters—Rākṣasas and leading Vānaras—pressed through it and continued the engagement.
Dhṛti (steadfastness) and collective martial resolve, especially among the kapi-mukhyas (leading Vānara commanders).