Shloka 50
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 95 — Sātyaki’s Breakthrough and the Routing of Allied Contingents
पत्त्यश्वरथनागैश्व प्रच्छन्नकृतसंक्रमाम् । शरवर्षप्लवां घोरां केशशैवलशाद्धलाम् । प्रावर्तयन्नदीमुग्रां शोणितौघतरड्धिणीम्,देहेभ्यो राजपुत्राणां नागाश्चरथसादिनाम् । उस समय अर्जुनने वहाँ रक्तकी एक भयंकर नदी बहा दी, जो प्रलयकालकी नदीके समान डरावनी प्रतीत होती थी। उसमें पैदल मनुष्य, घोड़े, रथ और हाथियोंको बिछाकर मानो पुल तैयार किया गया था, बाणोंकी वर्षा ही नौकाके समान जान पड़ती थी। केश सेवार और घासके समान जान पड़ते थे। उस भयंकर नदीसे रक्त-प्रवाहकी ही तरंगें उठ रही थीं। कटी हुई अँगुलियाँ छोटी-छोटी मछलियोंके समान जान पड़ती थीं। हाथी, घोड़े और रथोंकी सवारी करनेवाले राजकुमारोंके शरीरोंसे बहनेवाले रक्तसे लबालब भरी हुई उस नदीको अर्जुनने स्वयं प्रकट किया था। उसमें हाथियोंकी लाशें व्याप्त हो रही थीं
sañjaya uvāca |
pattyaśvarathanāgaiś ca pracchannakṛtasaṅkramām |
śaravarṣaplavāṃ ghorāṃ keśaśaivalśādvalām |
prāvartayannadīm ugrāṃ śoṇitaughataraṅgiṇīm |
dehebhyo rājaputrāṇāṃ nāgāś ca rathasādinām ||
Sañjaya said: Then Arjuna set in motion a dreadful river of blood, whose current rose in crimson waves. It looked as though a crossing had been made by bodies—foot-soldiers, horses, chariots, and elephants—while the storm of arrows served like boats upon it, and severed hair lay upon it like algae and grass. That fierce river, brimming from the bodies of princes and of those who rode elephants and chariots, was made manifest by Arjuna amid the ruin of war—an image of the moral terror and human cost that accompanies even a righteous battle.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grave moral weight of war: even when fought under kṣatriya duty, battle produces overwhelming suffering. The epic’s imagery functions as ethical reflection—heroism is inseparable from the human cost it inflicts.
Sañjaya describes Arjuna’s devastating assault: so many are slain that the battlefield is poetically imagined as a river of blood, with bodies forming a ford, arrows like boats, and hair like algae—conveying the scale and horror of the slaughter.