Shloka 6
Śalya-hatānantarāṇi: Madrarāja-padānugānāṃ praskandana and the Pandava counter-encirclement (शल्यहतानन्तराणि—मद्रराजपदानुगानां प्रस्कन्दनम्)
बाहुंश्विच्छेद तरसा सायुधान् केतनानि च । चकार च महीं योधैस्तीर्णा वेदीं कुशैरिव,उन्होंने आयुधोंसहित भुजाओं और ध्वजोंको वेगपूर्वक काट डाला और पृथ्वीपर उसी प्रकार योद्धाओंकी लाशें बिछा दीं, जैसे वेदीपर कुश बिछाये जाते हैं
bāhūṃś ciccheda tarasā sāyudhān ketanāni ca | cakāra ca mahīṃ yodhais tīrṇāṃ vedīṃ kuśair iva ||
Dengan cepat ia menebas lengan para prajurit beserta senjata yang masih mereka genggam, dan ia pun memotong panji-panji. Lalu ia membuat bumi terhampar oleh tubuh para pejuang yang gugur, laksana altar yajña yang ditaburi rumput kuśa.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a ritual simile—an altar covered with kuśa grass—to portray the battlefield covered with corpses, highlighting how war can invert sacred order into devastation. It implicitly warns that even when conflict is framed within kṣatriya duty, its human cost remains morally weighty and spiritually unsettling.
Sañjaya describes a fierce fighter (implied by context) cutting off armed warriors’ arms and striking down their banners, then leaving the ground carpeted with fallen bodies, compared to an altar layered with kuśa grass.