Shloka 17
Jayadrathasya varaprāptiḥ (जयद्रथस्य वरप्राप्तिः) — Jayadratha’s boon and the restraint of the Pāṇḍava advance
शराक्षापानि खड्गाश्न शरीराणि शिरांसि च | सकुण्डलानि स्रग्वीणि भूमावासन् सहस्रशः,उस युद्धभूमिमें धनुष, बाण, खड्ग, शरीर तथा हार और कुण्डलोंसे विभूषित मस्तक सहस्रोंकी संख्यामें छिन्न-भिन्न होकर पड़े थे
sañjaya uvāca | śarākṣāpāni khaḍgāśni śarīrāṇi śirāṃsi ca | sakuṇḍalāni sragvīṇi bhūmāv āsan sahasraśaḥ ||
Sañjaya berkata: Di medan perang itu, ribuan berserakan di tanah—busur dan anak panah, pedang, tubuh-tubuh terpotong, dan kepala-kepala yang masih berhias anting serta karangan bunga.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical gravity of war: social honor and worldly adornment (earrings, garlands) cannot protect life, and when dharma is overshadowed by rage and rivalry, the result is mass suffering and dehumanizing destruction.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the aftermath on the battlefield: weapons and dismembered bodies and heads, still ornamented, lie strewn in the thousands—an image of the intense slaughter during the Drona Parva fighting.