Shloka 189
अथ शरशतकभिन्नकृत्तदेहै- हतपतितै: क्षणदाचरै: समन्तात् | निधनमुपगतैर्मही कृताभूद् गिरिशिखरैरिव दुर्गमातिरौद्रा,तदनन्तर सैकड़ों बाणोंसे शरीर छिन्न-भिन्न हो जानेके कारण मरकर गिरे और मृत्युको प्राप्त हुए निशाचरोंकी लाशोंसे पटी हुई चारों ओरकी भूमि पर्वतशिखरोंसे आच्छादित हुई- सी अत्यन्त भयंकर और दुर्गम प्रतीत होने लगी
atha śaraśatakabhinnakṛttadehaiḥ hatapatitaiḥ kṣaṇadācaraiḥ samantāt | nidhanam upagatair mahī kṛtābhūd giriśikharair iva durgamātiraudrā ||
Sañjaya said: Then, all around, the earth became strewn with the bodies of the night-roaming warriors who had fallen slain—their limbs shattered and severed by hundreds of arrows. Covered as though with mountain-peaks, the ground appeared exceedingly dreadful and hard to traverse, revealing the grim cost of battle and the swift, impersonal working of death amid human resolve and rage.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark impermanence of embodied life and the ethical gravity of war: prowess and fury culminate in death, and the battlefield becomes a warning-image of the cost of violence, urging sober reflection on dharma and restraint even amid necessary conflict.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield after intense archery: night-roaming fighters (rākṣasa-like warriors) have been cut down by volleys of arrows, their bodies mangled and fallen everywhere, making the ground look as if covered with mountain-peaks—terrifying and difficult to cross.