Shloka 12
Chapter 7: Dvīpa–Varṣa–Meru-varṇana
Description of the Dvīpa, Varṣas, and Mount Meru
भारुण्डा नाम शकुनास्तीक्षणतुण्डा महाबला: । तान् निर्हरन्तीह मृतान् दरीषु प्रक्षिपन्ति च,वहाँ भारुण्ड नामके महाबली पक्षी हैं, जिनकी चोंचें बड़ी तीखी होती हैं। वे वहाँके मरे हुए लोगों-की लाशें उठाकर ले जाते और कन्दराओंमें फेंक देते हैं
bhāruṇḍā nāma śakunās tīkṣṇatuṇḍā mahābalāḥ | tān nirharantīha mṛtān darīṣu prakṣipanti ca ||
Sañjaya said: “There are birds here called Bhāruṇḍas—mighty creatures with razor-sharp beaks. They carry off the dead and cast the corpses into the mountain clefts.” The description underscores the grim aftermath of violence: when dharma collapses into slaughter, even nature becomes an agent that disposes of human bodies, intensifying the moral horror of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the dehumanizing consequence of war: when large-scale killing occurs, the dead are treated as refuse, and nature’s scavengers take over. It functions as a moral intensifier—reminding the listener that adharma-driven conflict leads to a world where dignity and order are lost.
Sañjaya describes a terrifying landscape where powerful birds called Bhāruṇḍas, with sharp beaks, pick up the bodies of the slain and throw them into ravines or rocky clefts—an image of the battlefield’s aftermath and its horror.