Shloka 24
भीष्मपर्व — अध्याय २: संजयस्य दिव्यदृष्टिप्रदानम् तथा निमित्तवर्णनम्
Granting Sañjaya Divine Sight and the Description of Omens
स्वप्स्यन्ति निहता वीरा भूमिमावृत्य पार्थिवा: । राजानो राजतपूुत्रा श्च शूरा: परिघबाहव:,“इसका फल यह है कि परिघके समान मोटी बाहुओंवाले बहुत-से शूरवीर नरेश तथा राजकुमार मारे जाकर पृथ्वीको आच्छादित करके रणभूमिमें शयन करेंगे
svapsyanti nihatā vīrā bhūmim āvṛtya pārthivāḥ | rājāno rāja-putrāś ca śūrāḥ parigha-bāhavaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: ‘Many heroic kings and princes—mighty warriors with arms thick and powerful like iron clubs—will be struck down. Covering the earth with their fallen bodies, they will lie upon the battlefield as if in sleep.’ The line underscores the grave moral cost of war: royal power and valor culminate not in glory but in widespread death that blankets the land.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tragic outcome of war: even the strongest kings and princes end as lifeless bodies on the earth. It frames death as ‘sleep’ to stress both the inevitability of mortality and the ethical weight of choosing conflict.
Vaiśampāyana describes the impending carnage of the Kurukṣetra war: numerous heroic rulers and royal sons will be slain and will lie across the battlefield, so many that their bodies seem to cover the ground.