Shloka 17
शराक्षापानि खड्गाश्न शरीराणि शिरांसि च | सकुण्डलानि स्रग्वीणि भूमावासन् सहस्रशः,उस युद्धभूमिमें धनुष, बाण, खड्ग, शरीर तथा हार और कुण्डलोंसे विभूषित मस्तक सहस्रोंकी संख्यामें छिन्न-भिन्न होकर पड़े थे
sañjaya uvāca | śarākṣāpāni khaḍgāśni śarīrāṇi śirāṃsi ca | sakuṇḍalāni sragvīṇi bhūmāv āsan sahasraśaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: On that battlefield, thousands lay scattered upon the ground—bows and arrows, swords, severed bodies, and heads still adorned with earrings and garlands. The sight underscores the terrible cost of wrath and ambition: even those once honored with ornaments are reduced to lifeless fragments when dharma is eclipsed by the frenzy of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical gravity of war: social honor and worldly adornment (earrings, garlands) cannot protect life, and when dharma is overshadowed by rage and rivalry, the result is mass suffering and dehumanizing destruction.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the aftermath on the battlefield: weapons and dismembered bodies and heads, still ornamented, lie strewn in the thousands—an image of the intense slaughter during the Drona Parva fighting.