Shloka 31
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
शीर्षपाषाणसंछन्ना: केशशैवलशाद्धला: । अस्थिमीनसमाकीर्णा धनुःशरगदोडुपा:
śīrṣapāṣāṇasaṃchannāḥ keśaśaivalśādvalāḥ | asthimīnasamākīrṇā dhanuḥśaragadoḍupāḥ ||
Dijo Sañjaya: «Aquellos ríos estaban cubiertos de cabezas cercenadas como si fueran peñascos; el cabello sobre ellas parecía algas y hierba de ribera. Los huesos se esparcían por doquier como peces, y arcos, flechas y mazas se veían como barcas.»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse conveys the ethical shock of war by depicting nature inverted: heads become rocks, hair becomes algae, bones become fish, and weapons become boats. The teaching is not a celebration of violence but a stark reminder that adharma and unchecked wrath deform the world, turning the life-giving image of a river into a channel of death.
Sañjaya, narrating the Kurukṣetra war, describes the battlefield’s horrific aftermath in vivid metaphors. He portrays ‘rivers’ on the field—likely streams of blood and flows of bodies—so crowded with severed heads, hair, bones, and weapons that they resemble a grotesque landscape of rocks, weeds, fish, and boats.