Shloka 18
अशोभत महाराज किंशुकैरिव पुष्पितै: । महाराज! प्रजापालक नरेश! उस समय गिरे हुए गजराजों, अनेक टुकड़ोंमें कटी हुई ध्वजाओं तथा धरतीपर पड़े हुए, सोनेकी कलंगियोंसे सुशोभित घोड़ोंसे, जो सात्यकिके बाणोंसे क्षत-विक्षत होकर खूनसे लथपथ हो रहे थे, आच्छादित हुई यह पृथ्वी वैसी ही शोभा पा रही थी, मानो वह लाल फूलोंसे भरे हुए पलाशके वृक्षोंद्वारा ढक गयी हो || १६-१७ $ ।। ते वध्यमाना: समरे युयुधानेन तावका:
sañjaya uvāca |
aśobhat mahārāja kiṃśukair iva puṣpitaiḥ |
te vadhyamānāḥ samare yuyudhānena tāvakāḥ |
Sanjaya said: O King, the earth then appeared splendid, as though covered with blossoming kiṃśuka (palāśa) trees. For your warriors, being struck down in battle by Yuyudhāna (Sātyaki), lay scattered amid fallen lordly elephants, banners cut into many pieces, and horses adorned with golden head-ornaments—torn by his arrows and drenched in blood. The image is deliberately aesthetic and unsettling: the beauty of red blossoms is mirrored by the redness of blood, underscoring how war can make even horror seem ‘ornamental,’ while the ethical weight remains the destruction of lives and the ruin of royal duty to protect.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral dissonance of war: the battlefield can be described with poetic beauty, yet that ‘beauty’ is born from slaughter. It implicitly critiques the glamorization of violence and reminds the listener (the king) that royal power and duty (to protect subjects) collapse into grief when driven by adharma and factional hatred.
Sanjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Sātyaki (Yuyudhāna) is cutting down Kaurava forces. The ground is covered with fallen elephants, severed banners, and wounded horses with golden ornaments, all bloodied by Sātyaki’s arrows—making the earth look like it is covered with red-blossomed palāśa trees.