Shloka 466
कृतवांस्तत्र शैनेय: क्षपयंस्तावकं॑ बलम् | प्रजानाथ! सात्यकिने आपकी सेनाका संहार करते हुए वहाँकी भूमिको सहस्रों काम्बोजों, शकों, शबरों, किरातों और बर्बरोंकी लाशोंसे पाटकर अगम्य बना दिया था। वहाँ मांस और रक्तकी कीच जम गयी थी
sañjaya uvāca | kṛtavāṁs tatra śaineyaḥ kṣapayaṁs tāvakaṁ balam |
Sanjaya said: There, Śaineya (Sātyaki), while destroying your army, wrought a fearful slaughter. The ground was heaped with the corpses of thousands—Kāmbojas, Śakas, Śabaras, Kirātas, and other frontier peoples—so that the field became impassable; and a mire of flesh and blood formed there. The passage underscores the moral horror of war even amid heroic prowess: victory is purchased through devastation that stains the earth and the conscience alike.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when a warrior acts within the framework of kṣatriya-duty, the Mahābhārata does not romanticize war: it repeatedly foregrounds the human and moral cost—death, desecration of the earth, and the grim aftermath—inviting ethical reflection alongside admiration for valor.
Sanjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Sātyaki (Śaineya) is cutting down the Kaurava forces. The battlefield becomes choked with bodies—especially of Kāmbojas, Śakas, Śabaras, Kirātas, and other ‘mleccha/frontier’ troops—rendering the ground impassable and soaked in gore.