Shloka 38
शिरस्तच्चापि संगृहा केशेषु रुधिरोक्षितम्
śirastaccāpi saṅgṛhya keśeṣu rudhirokṣitam
Sañjaya said: Having also taken up that severed head—its hair drenched with blood—he held it as a grim token of the war’s brutality, a moment that underscores how victory in battle often arrives entwined with horror and moral cost.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the stark moral and emotional cost of war: even when actions are framed as duty, the visible reality of bloodshed confronts the conscience and exposes the suffering that accompanies martial success.
Sañjaya describes a battlefield scene in which a severed head is taken up; its hair is soaked with blood. The detail intensifies the atmosphere of carnage and signals a decisive, terrifying turn in the combat.