Shloka 62
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Discourse and the Elephant-Corps Engagement (भीमगजानीक-सम्भ्रान्ति)
स चक्रे वसुधां कीर्णा शबलै: कुसुमैरिव । भीमसेनने बहुत-से प्रासों, विचित्र यन्त्रों और चमकीले शस्त्रोंसे वहाँकी भूमिको पाट दिया, जिससे वह चितकबरे पुष्पोंसे आच्छादित-सी प्रतीत होने लगी || ६१ ह ।।
sa cakre vasudhāṁ kīrṇāṁ śabalaiḥ kusumair iva | āplutya rathinaḥ kāṁścit parāmṛśya mahābalaḥ ||
Sañjaya berkata: Bhimasena menutupi bumi dengan banyak tombak, alat perang yang aneka rupa, dan senjata yang berkilau, sehingga tanah itu tampak seakan terselimuti bunga-bunga beraneka warna. Lalu sang perkasa itu melompat ke tengah beberapa kesatria berkereta, merengkuh mereka satu demi satu dan menjatuhkan mereka di medan laga.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a striking simile—ground looking like it is covered with colorful flowers—to show how warfare can aesthetically resemble beauty while actually being formed by destruction; it invites reflection on the deceptive appearance of glory in violence and the heavy cost of kṣatriya conflict.
Sañjaya describes a mighty warrior (contextually Bhīmasena) surging into the fray, leaping among chariot-fighters and striking them, so that the battlefield becomes strewn and mottled—like a flower-strewn earth—because of the scattered weapons and fallen combatants.