Mahabharata 7.49.28 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 49, Shloka 28
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 49: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament and Strategic Foreboding after Abhimanyu’s Fall
वाजिभिश्षापि निर्जीवै: श्वसद्धि: शोणितो क्षितै: । सारोहैरविषमा भूमि: सौभद्रेण निपातितैः
vājibhiḥ śāpī nirjīvaiḥ śvasadbhiḥ śoṇito kṣitaiḥ | sārohāir aviṣamā bhūmiḥ saubhadreṇa nipātitaiḥ ||
Sañjaya dijo: El suelo se había vuelto desigual y difícil de atravesar, sembrado de caballos—unos ya sin vida y otros aún jadeantes—empapados en sangre, y de jinetes caídos, abatidos por Saubhadra (Abhimanyu). La escena subraya el costo sombrío de la batalla: el valor y el deber en el campo no se separan del sufrimiento ni del peso ético de la violencia.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when war is framed as dharma-yuddha, its reality is brutal: the verse forces attention to the tangible suffering—gasping animals, fallen riders, blood-soaked earth—inviting ethical reflection on the human and non-human cost of violence.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield after Abhimanyu’s assault: horses and their riders have been cut down, some horses dead and some still breathing, and the ground has become uneven and difficult to cross because of the bodies and blood.
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