Shloka 34
द्रोणस्य सुपर्णव्यूहः — युधिष्ठिरप्रत्यव्यूहः
Droṇa’s Suparṇa Formation and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Counter-array
रजश्व सुमहज्जातं शान्तं रुधिरवृष्टिभि: । मही चाप्यभवद् दुर्गा कबन्धशतसंकुला,रक्तकी वर्षसे वहाँकी उड़ती हुई भारी धूलराशि शान्त हो गयी और सैकड़ों कबन्धों (बिना सिरकी लाशों)-से आच्छादित होनेके कारण उस भूमिपर चलना कठिन हो गया
rajaśva sumahajjātaṃ śāntaṃ rudhiravṛṣṭibhiḥ | mahī cāpyabhavad durgā kabandhaśata-saṅkulā ||
Sañjaya said: The vast cloud of dust that had risen in the battle subsided, being weighed down and stilled by showers of blood. And the very earth became hard to traverse, choked with hundreds of headless trunks—so that the battlefield itself turned into a perilous ground, revealing the grim moral cost of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical gravity of war: even when framed as duty, violence leaves the world physically and morally scarred. The imagery of blood-rain and headless bodies confronts the listener with the human cost that dharma must reckon with, not romanticize.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the thick dust raised by the fighting has settled, subdued by showers of blood, and that the ground has become nearly impassable because it is strewn and crowded with numerous headless corpses.