Shloka 27
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 49: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament and Strategic Foreboding after Abhimanyu’s Fall
चापैश्न विविधैश्छिन्नै: शक््त्यृष्टिप्रासकम्पनै: । विविधैश्वायुधैश्वान्यै: संवृता भूरशो भत,सुवर्णमय पंखवाले बाणोंसे वहाँकी भूमि भरी हुई थी। रक्तकी धाराओंमें डूबी हुई थी। शूरवीरोंके कुण्डल-मण्डित तेजस्वी मस्तकों, हाथियोंके विचित्र झूलों, पताकाओं, चामरों, हाथीकी पीठपर बिछाये जानेवाले कम्बलों, इधर-उधर पड़े हुए उत्तम वस्त्रों, हाथी, घोड़े और मनुष्योंके चमकीले आभूषणों, केंचुलसे निकले हुए सर्पोके समान पैने और पानीदार खड़गों, भाँति-भाँतिके कटे हुए धनुषों, शक्ति, ऋष्टि, प्रास, कम्पन तथा अन्य नाना प्रकारके आयुधोंसे आच्छादित हुई रणभूमिकी अद्भुत शोभा हो रही थी
cāpaiś ca vividhaiś chinnaiḥ śaktyṛṣṭiprāsakampanaiḥ | vividhaiś cāyudhaiś cānyaiḥ saṃvṛtā bhūr aśobhat ||
Sañjaya said: The ground shone, covered over with many kinds of bows that had been cut to pieces, with śaktis, ṛṣṭis, prāsas, kampanas, and with various other weapons. The battlefield’s terrible splendor lay in this very abundance—an image of war’s waste, where valor and skill culminate not in harmony but in a landscape strewn with broken instruments of violence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grim paradox of war: what appears as 'splendor' is actually the accumulation of destruction. It invites ethical reflection on how martial excellence and duty (kṣatriya-dharma) can still yield a landscape of loss, reminding the listener that glory in battle is inseparable from suffering and impermanence.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield after intense fighting: the earth is strewn with severed bows and many kinds of weapons—javelins, lances, darts, and others—creating a stark, striking scene of the ongoing carnage in the Drona Parva war episodes.