Shloka 43
कर्ण-पाण्डव-संमर्दः — Karṇa and Arjuna’s Intensified Engagement
मनुष्याश्वगजानां च शरीरैर्गतजीवितै: । क्षणेन भूमि: संजज्ञे संवृता भरतर्षभ
manuṣyāśvagajānāṁ ca śarīrair gatajīvitaiḥ | kṣaṇena bhūmiḥ saṁjajñe saṁvṛtā bharatarṣabha ||
Sañjaya said: In a single moment, O bull among the Bharatas, the earth appeared completely covered with the lifeless bodies of men, horses, and elephants. The verse underscores the swift, indiscriminate devastation of war, where living beings—regardless of rank or species—are reduced to mere bodies, inviting reflection on the moral cost of violence and the fragility of life.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the rapid and totalizing destruction caused by war: life is fragile, and violence swiftly turns living beings into lifeless bodies. Ethically, it presses the listener to confront the human and ecological cost of conflict, beyond victory or defeat.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield has, in an instant, become covered with corpses—humans along with cavalry and war-elephants—conveying the intensity of the fighting and the scale of slaughter.