Shloka 31

Devanagari script

महासर्पाज्गभिदधराश्षित्राभरणधारिण: । रजोध्वस्ता: पड्कदिग्धा: सर्वे शुक्लाम्बरस्रज:

Transliteration

mahāsarpājgabhidadharāś citrābharaṇadhāriṇaḥ | rajodhvastāḥ paṅkadigdhāḥ sarve śuklāmbara-srajaḥ ||

Translation

સંજય બોલ્યા—તેઓ મહાસર્પના ફણ સમા ચિહ્નો ધારણ કરીને વિચિત્ર આભૂષણોથી વિભૂષિત હતા. શ્વેત વસ્ત્રો અને માળા ધારણ કર્યા છતાં તેઓ ધૂળથી ધૂસર અને કાદવથી લિપ્ત હતા.

Word by Word

महासर्पाङ्गभिदधराःbearing (weapons) that split the limbs of great serpents

चित्राभरणधारिणःwearing variegated ornaments

रजोध्वस्ताःcovered with dust

पङ्कदिग्धाःsmeared with mud

सर्वेall

शुक्लाम्बरस्रजःhaving white garments and garlands

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

स

संजय (Sañjaya)

श

शुक्लाम्बर (white garments)

स

स्रज्/स्रजः (garlands)

च

चित्राभरण (ornaments)

म

महासर्प (great serpents)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

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.

What is happening in the narrative?

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.