Shloka 17
Chapter 7: Dvīpa–Varṣa–Meru-varṇana
Description of the Dvīpa, Varṣas, and Mount Meru
चन्द्रप्रभा श्वन्द्रवर्णा: पूर्णचन्द्रनिभानना: । चन्द्रशीतलगात्र्यश्न नृत्यगीतविशारदा:,उनकी अंगकान्ति एवं वर्ण चन्द्रमाके समान है। उनके मुख पूर्णचन्द्रके समान मनोहर होते हैं। उनका एक-एक अंग चन्द्ररश्मियोंके समान शीतल प्रतीत होता है। वे नृत्य और गीतकी कलामें कुशल होती हैं
candraprabhāḥ śveta-varṇāḥ pūrṇa-candra-nibhānanāḥ | candra-śītala-gātryaś ca nṛtya-gīta-viśāradāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “They shine with a moonlike radiance, fair in complexion, their faces lovely like the full moon. Their limbs seem cool as moonbeams, and they are accomplished in the arts of dance and song.” In the Mahābhārata’s war-setting, such imagery heightens the contrast between the battlefield’s harshness and the refined, alluring qualities attributed to celestial or courtly women, underscoring how beauty and pleasure can appear even amid impending violence and moral strain.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse is primarily descriptive rather than prescriptive: it uses moon-imagery to portray refined beauty and artistic accomplishment. In the epic’s ethical atmosphere, it implicitly reminds the listener how sensory allure and cultivated pleasures can coexist with, and sometimes distract from, the grave duties and moral tensions of war.
Sañjaya is narrating and describing a group of women (implicitly celestial or exceptionally beautiful performers/attendants), emphasizing their moonlike radiance, coolness, and skill in dance and song, as part of the broader battlefield narration in Bhīṣma Parva.