Shloka 28
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 49: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament and Strategic Foreboding after Abhimanyu’s Fall
वाजिभिश्षापि निर्जीवै: श्वसद्धि: शोणितो क्षितै: । सारोहैरविषमा भूमि: सौभद्रेण निपातितैः,सुभद्राकुमार अभिमन्युके द्वारा मार गिराये हुए रक्तस्नात निर्जीव और सजीव घोड़ों और घुड़सवारोंके कारण वह भूमि विषम एवं दुर्गम हो गयी थी
vājibhiḥ śāpī nirjīvaiḥ śvasadbhiḥ śoṇito kṣitaiḥ | sārohāir aviṣamā bhūmiḥ saubhadreṇa nipātitaiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: The ground had become uneven and hard to traverse—strewn with horses, some lifeless and some still gasping, drenched in blood, and with fallen riders—cut down by Saubhadra (Abhimanyu). The scene underscores the grim cost of battle: valor and duty on the field are inseparable from suffering and the ethical weight of violence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when war is framed as dharma-yuddha, its reality is brutal: the verse forces attention to the tangible suffering—gasping animals, fallen riders, blood-soaked earth—inviting ethical reflection on the human and non-human cost of violence.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield after Abhimanyu’s assault: horses and their riders have been cut down, some horses dead and some still breathing, and the ground has become uneven and difficult to cross because of the bodies and blood.