Shloka 25
Yuddha-yajña-vyākhyāna (The Battle as Sacrifice): Ambarīṣa–Indra Saṃvāda
उत्तिष्ठते कबन्धो5त्र सहस्ने निहते तु यः । स यूपस्तस्य शूरस्य खादिरोडष्टास्नरिरुच्यते
uttiṣṭhate kabaṇḍho ’tra sahasre nihate tu yaḥ | sa yūpas tasya śūrasya khādiro ’ṣṭāsnaḥ smṛtocyate ||
Ambarīṣa berkata: “Di sini, ketika seribu orang terbunuh, batang tubuh tanpa kepala yang tampak bangkit berdiri itu seakan-akan adalah yūpa—tiang kurban—dalam kurban sang pahlawan: yūpa dari kayu khadira, bersegi delapan.”
अम्बरीष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a stark metaphor: mass killing in war is likened to a sacrificial rite, where the gruesome sight of headless bodies ‘standing’ becomes the yūpa-posts of a warrior’s ‘sacrifice.’ It invites ethical reflection on how violence can be rhetorically sanctified and how such framing affects one’s sense of dharma.
Ambarīṣa describes a battlefield scene in which, after immense slaughter, headless trunks appear to rise. He interprets this image through ritual language, calling them the eight-angled khadira yūpas of the hero’s figurative yajña—an intense poetic comparison between war and sacrifice.