Shloka 8
पतितैश्नामरैश्वैव श्वेतच्छत्रैश्ष भारत । बभूव धरणी पूर्णा नक्षत्रैद्यौरिव प्रभो,भरतनन्दन! प्रभो! वहाँ गिरे हुए चामरों और श्वेत छत्रोंसे भरी हुई भूमि नक्षत्रोंसे युक्त आकाशके समान जान पड़ती थी
patitaiś cāmaraiś caiva śvetacchatraiś ca bhārata | babhūva dharaṇī pūrṇā nakṣatrair dyaur iva prabho bharatanandana ||
Sañjaya said: O Bhārata, the earth became strewn with fallen yak-tail fans and white royal parasols. O lord, O joy of the Bharatas, the ground looked like the star-filled sky—an image that underscores how the emblems of sovereignty and honor, once held aloft in ceremony, now lay cast down amid the ruin of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the impermanence of worldly power: symbols of royalty (white parasols and cāmaras) that signify honor and authority in peace are reduced to debris in war, suggesting an ethical reflection on the cost of violence and the fragility of status.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield aftermath to Dhṛtarāṣṭra: the ground is littered with fallen ceremonial fans and white parasols, and this scattered whiteness is compared to stars spread across the sky.