Shloka 42
धनुष्काशां शरावापां गदापरिघपन्नगाम् | हंसच्छत्रध्वजोपेतामुष्णीषवरफेनिलाम्
sañjaya uvāca |
dhanuṣkāśāṁ śarāvāpāṁ gadā-parigha-pannagām |
haṁsa-cchatra-dhvajopetām uṣṇīṣa-vara-phenilām ||
उस नदी के किनारे धनुष कास-से थे, बाण उसके अंकुर-से; गदा और परिघ सर्पों-से थे। छत्र और ध्वज हंसों-से शोभित थे, और उत्तम पगड़ियाँ उसके फेन-सी प्रतीत होती थीं।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a stark battlefield simile—turning weapons and insignia into features of a ‘river’—to underline war’s moral weight: courage and self-mastery endure terror, while inner weakness (fear, lack of discipline) makes the same ordeal feel impossible to cross.
Sañjaya poetically depicts the carnage of the battle as a river-like scene: bows resemble reeds, quivers form banks, maces and clubs appear like serpents, and parasols and banners look like swans, conveying the overwhelming, death-filled landscape created by the fighting.