Shloka 183
ह्वीमन््त: कालसम्पर्कात् सुदुःखान्यनुशेरते । बड़े-बड़े राजा कालसंयोगसे अत्यन्त दुःखदायिनी तथा गीधकी पाँखरूपी बिछौनोंसे युक्त शय्याओंपर लज्जापूर्वक सो रहे थे
hvīmantāḥ kālasamparkāt suduḥkhāny anuśerate |
Sañjaya said: Through the harsh contact of Time (fate), they lay down amid exceedingly painful conditions—great kings, humbled by circumstance, sleeping in shame upon beds made of vulture-feathers, as if even their resting place proclaimed the ruin brought by war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the overpowering force of Kāla (Time/Fate): worldly status like kingship collapses under war’s consequences, and pride gives way to shame and suffering—highlighting impermanence and the ethical weight of violent conflict.
Sañjaya reports the aftermath-like condition of great kings: due to the turn of Time, they are reduced to sleeping in miserable, degrading circumstances (beds likened to vulture-feathers), conveying exhaustion, defeat, and humiliation within the war setting.