Shloka 31
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
महासर्पाज्गभिदधराश्षित्राभरणधारिण: । रजोध्वस्ता: पड्कदिग्धा: सर्वे शुक्लाम्बरस्रज:
mahāsarpājgabhidadharāś citrābharaṇadhāriṇaḥ | rajodhvastāḥ paṅkadigdhāḥ sarve śuklāmbara-srajaḥ ||
Sañjaya dit : «Tous portaient des ornements éclatants et des guirlandes sur des vêtements blancs ; pourtant ils étaient couverts de poussière et maculés de boue, tels de grands serpents aux capuchons brillants. La scène rappelle qu’après la violence, les marques extérieures du rang et du raffinement s’effacent devant la crasse de la souffrance et le désarroi moral qui suit le carnage.»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts external signs of nobility—white garments, garlands, ornaments—with the dust and mud of devastation, suggesting that violence reduces all to a common condition and that outward splendor cannot shield one from the ethical and human consequences of war.
Sañjaya describes a group (warriors/men in the scene) whose appearance is simultaneously adorned and defiled: they still bear ornaments and garlands on white clothing, but are coated with dust and mud, evoking a vivid, unsettling image of the post-slaughter environment.