Shloka 43
हारपद्माकरां चैव भूमिरेणूमिमालिनीम् । आर्यवृत्तवतां संख्ये सुतरां भीरुदुस्तराम्
sañjaya uvāca |
hārapadmākarāṃ caiva bhūmir eṇūmimālinīm |
āryavṛttavatāṃ saṅkhye sutarāṃ bhīrudustarām ||
Dijo Sañjaya: «La tierra misma parecía un lago de lotos hecho de collares, y sus olas eran el polvo que se alzaba en remolinos. En aquella batalla se volvió como la Vaitaraṇī: fácil de vadear para los hombres de conducta noble, pero sumamente difícil de cruzar para los temerosos».
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts inner character under crisis: the same terrifying battlefield becomes ‘crossable’ for those grounded in ārya-vṛtta (noble discipline and courage) but ‘uncrossable’ for the fearful. Ethical steadiness is portrayed as the true means of passage through peril.
Sañjaya poetically reports the battlefield’s appearance: dust rises in wave-like surges, and the ground seems like a lotus-lake strewn with necklaces—part of the larger depiction of the horrific ‘river’ of slaughter in the Karṇa Parva, likened to the Vaitaraṇī.