Shloka 10
आत्मदोष-उपदेशः तथा भीम-धृष्टद्युम्नयोः संयोगः
Self-Causation Counsel and the Bhīma–Dhṛṣṭadyumna Convergence
गजवाजिमनुष्याणां सर्वगान्रैश्व भूपते । आसीत् सर्वा समास्तीर्णा मुहूर्तेन वसुंधरा,भूपाल! दो ही घड़ीमें वहाँकी सारी वसुधा कवचसे ढके हुए शरीरों, आभूषणोंसे विभूषित हाथों, चन्द्रमाके समान सुन्दर मुखों, जिनके अन्तभागमें कुछ-कुछ लाली थी, ऐसे सुन्दर नेत्रों तथा हाथी, घोड़े और मनुष्योंके सम्पूर्ण अंगोंसे बिछ गयी थी
sañjaya uvāca | gajavājimanuṣyāṇāṃ sarvagātraiś ca bhūpate | āsīt sarvā samāstīrṇā muhūrtena vasuṃdharā |
Sañjaya said: “O king, within a mere moment the whole earth lay completely strewn with the limbs of elephants, horses, and men.” The line underscores the swift, overwhelming devastation of battle—an ethical reminder of war’s terrible cost and the fragility of embodied life.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the rapid, totalizing destruction produced by war, implicitly urging ethical reflection on the human and ecological cost of conflict and the impermanence of bodily life.
Sañjaya reports to the king that the battlefield ground quickly became covered everywhere with severed or fallen limbs of elephants, horses, and warriors, conveying the intensity and scale of the fighting.