Shloka 127
Vāsudeva-Māhātmya: Duryodhana’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Theological Account of Keśava
श्वरकड़्कशालावृकगृध्रकाकै: क्रव्यादसड्घैश्न तरक्षुभिश्न । उपेतकूलां ददृशुर्मनुष्या: क्रूरां महावैतरणीप्रकाशाम्,उसके दोनों किनारोंपर कुत्ते, कौवे, भेड़िये, गीध, कंक, तरक्षु- तथा अन्यान्य मांसभक्षी जन्तु निवास करते थे। उस भयानक नदीको लोगोंने महावैतरणीके समान देखा
sañjaya uvāca | śvarakaṅkaśālāvṛkagṛdhrakākaiḥ kravyādasaṅghaiś ca tarakṣubhiś ca | upetakūlāṃ dadṛśur manuṣyāḥ krūrāṃ mahāvaitaraṇīprakāśām ||
Sañjaya said: People beheld a cruel river, its banks thronged with packs of flesh-eating creatures—dogs, crows, wolves, vultures, kankas and hyenas—appearing like the great Vaitaraṇī. The vision evokes the moral horror of war: a landscape where violence draws scavengers and the boundary between battlefield and hell becomes indistinct.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses hell-river imagery (Vaitaraṇī) to underline the ethical degradation and karmic dread associated with mass violence: when adharma and slaughter dominate, the world itself seems to resemble a realm of punishment, crowded by scavengers drawn to death.
Sañjaya reports a terrifying sight: a river whose banks are lined with carrion-eating animals and birds—dogs, crows, wolves, vultures, kankas, hyenas—so dreadful that it appears like the great Vaitaraṇī, an infernal river in traditional imagination.