Shloka 5
दीनं स्तनद्धिः परिवृत्तनेत्रै- महीं दशद्धि: कृपणं नदद्धि: । तथापविद्धैर्गजवाजियोधै: शरापविद्धैरथ वीरसंघै:
dīnaṁ stanadbhiḥ parivṛttanetraiḥ mahīṁ daśadbhiḥ kṛpaṇaṁ nadadbhiḥ | tathāpaviddhair gajavājiyodhaiḥ śarāpaviddhair atha vīrasaṅghaiḥ ||
Śalya berkata: “Lihatlah—mereka merintih lemah, mata berputar, menggigit tanah, dan menjerit pilu. Demikian pula gajah, kuda, para prajurit, dan rombongan kesatria yang tertembus panah bergelimpangan; maka medan ini tampak seperti Vaitaraṇī, sungai kematian itu sendiri.”
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the human cost of war: even ‘heroic’ battle culminates in pitiable suffering and death. It implicitly challenges triumphalism by forcing a moral gaze upon the wounded and slain, reminding the listener that violence extinguishes splendor and reduces all to vulnerability.
Śalya, speaking amid the Kurukṣetra carnage in Karṇa Parva, points out the horrific state of the battlefield—men, horses, elephants, and warrior-hosts lying cast down or dying in agony, pierced by arrows—using vivid sensory details (groans, rolling eyes, biting the earth) to convey the scene’s dread.