Shloka 37
Adhyāya 74 (Book 6, Bhīṣma-parva): Bhīma–Duryodhana re-engagement and afternoon escalation
सतोमरैर्महामात्रैर्निपतद्धिर्गतासुभि: । बभूवायोधनं छन्न॑ नाराचाभिहतैर्गजै:,तोमरोंसहित प्राणशून्य होकर गिरे हुए महावतों और नाराचोंकी मारसे मरकर गिरनेवाले हाथियोंसे वह रणभूमि आच्छादित हो गयी थी
sa-tomarair mahāmātrair nipatadbhir gatāsubhiḥ | babhūvāyodhanaṃ channaṃ nārācābhihatair gajaiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: The battlefield became completely covered—strewn with great elephant-drivers who, struck down by spears, had fallen lifeless, and with elephants that, pierced by iron arrows, had been slain and collapsed. The scene underscores the terrible cost of war, where even the mighty and their attendants are reduced to silence on the ground.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the stark impermanence of life and the heavy human and animal cost of warfare; it implicitly cautions that martial glory is inseparable from widespread suffering and death.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield after intense fighting: elephant-drivers lie dead, felled by spears, and elephants have been killed by iron arrows, so that the ground is covered with bodies and fallen beasts.