Shloka 16
Śalya–Bhīma Gadāyuddham (मद्रराज-भीमसेन गदायुद्धम्)
शूलव्यालसमाकीर्णा प्राणिवाजिनिषेविताम् । छिन्नक्षत्रमहाहंसां मुकुटाण्डजसेविताम्,उसके भीतर शूल सर्पोके समान व्याप्त हो रहे थे। विभिन्न प्राणी ही वहाँ चल-पक्षीके रूपमें निवास करते थे। कटे हुए क्षत्रिय-समुदाय उसमें विचरनेवाले बड़े-बड़े हंसोंके समान प्रतीत होते थे। वह नदी राजाओंके मुकुटरूपी जलपक्षियोंसे सेवित दिखायी देती थी
śūlavyālasamākīrṇā prāṇivājinisevitām | chinnakṣatramahāhaṃsāṃ mukuṭāṇḍajasevitām ||
Sañjaya said: That dreadful river was crowded with spears, like a channel infested with serpents. It was frequented by living creatures and horses, as though they were its moving birds. The severed Kṣatriya ranks appeared like great swans roaming upon it, and it seemed attended by the waterfowl of kings’ crowns—an image that turns royal splendor into a grim ornament of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses stark metaphor to show how war inverts values: weapons become ‘serpents,’ living beings and horses become mere ‘birds’ in a deadly landscape, and royal crowns—symbols of sovereignty—turn into grim ornaments. Ethically, it underscores the Mahābhārata’s recurring warning that violence consumes status and pride, reducing worldly glory to debris amid suffering.
Sañjaya continues a vivid battlefield description by portraying a ‘river’ (a poetic image for the flow of slaughter and its aftermath) crowded with spears, creatures, and horses. He likens the fallen Kṣatriyas to great swans moving upon it and the kings’ crowns to water-birds, intensifying the horror through ironic, nature-based imagery.