Shloka 6.94.11
रावणस्य सभाप्रवेशः — रामस्य शरवृष्ट्या राक्षससेनाविनाशः (Ravana Enters Council; Rama’s Arrow-Storm Destroys the Rakshasa Host)
मातङ्गरथकूलाश्चवाजिमत्सास्यध्वजद्रुमाः ।।।।शरीरसङ्घाटवहाःप्रसस्रुःशोणितापगाः ।
mātaṅga-ratha-kūlāś ca vāji-matsāsyadhvaja-drumāḥ |
śarīra-saṅghāṭa-vahāḥ prasasruḥ śoṇitāpagāḥ ||
Rivers of blood flowed forth—having elephants and chariots for their banks, horses as their fish, banners as their trees, and heaps of bodies borne along like logs.
There with rivers of blood flowing, elephants and chariots were like banks, horses were like fish, staff of chariots like trees and dead bodies as logs of wood seemed.
It underscores the cost of war and the gravity of choosing violence: dharma is not abstract—when violated, it manifests as widespread suffering that the poet forces the listener to confront.
The narrator paints a stark metaphor of the battlefield, describing torrents of blood as though they were rivers with banks, fish, trees, and drifting logs.
Moral seriousness (an awareness of consequences) is emphasized—heroes must act with responsibility, not with delight in destruction.