Shloka 125
Vāsudeva-Māhātmya: Duryodhana’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Theological Account of Keśava
वेगेन सातीव पृथुप्रवाहा परेतनागाश्वशरीररोधा । नरेन्द्रमज्जोच्छितमांसपड्का प्रभूतरक्षोगणभूतसेविता,वह नदी बड़े वेगसे बह रही थी। उसका प्रवाह पुष्ट था। मरे हुए हाथी, घोड़ोंके शरीर तटोंके समान प्रतीत होते थे। राजाओंके मज्जा और मांस कीचड़के समान थे। बहुत-से राक्षत और भूतगण उसका सेवन करते थे
sañjaya uvāca |
vegena sātīva pṛthupravāhā paretanāgāśvaśarīrarodhā |
narendramajjochchhitamāṃsapaṅkā prabhūtarakṣogaṇabhūtasevitā ||
Sañjaya said: That river rushed on with tremendous speed, its current broad and forceful. The bodies of dead elephants and horses formed barriers like banks along its course. The marrow and flesh of kings became its mire, and it was thronged by many rākṣasas and bhūtas who drank of it. The image lays bare the moral horror of war: royal pride and worldly power dissolve into the same gruesome mud, while the battlefield becomes a haunt for dark forces that feed on violence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a stark metaphor to expose the ethical cost of war: even kings and great warriors are reduced to perishable matter, and violence creates conditions where destructive, ‘dark’ forces thrive. It warns against pride in power and highlights the impermanence of worldly status.
Sañjaya is narrating the battlefield scene to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, portraying a terrifying ‘river’ formed by the carnage of war—swift, wide, clogged with dead elephants and horses, and muddied with the flesh and marrow of fallen kings—haunted by rākṣasas and bhūtas.