Shloka 15
अध्याय ९९ — युयुधान-दुःशासन-युद्धम्
Chapter 99: Sātyaki and Duḥśāsana’s engagement
आकर्षन्त: शरीराणि शरीरावयवांस्तथा । नराश्वगजसंघानां शिरांसि च ततस्ततः:,मनुष्यों, घोड़ों तथा हाथियोंके समूहोंके सम्पूर्ण शरीरों और अवयवों एवं मस्तकोंको इधर-उधर खींचते थे
ākarṣantaḥ śarīrāṇi śarīrāvayavāṃs tathā | narāśvagajasaṅghānāṃ śirāṃsi ca tatastataḥ ||
Sañjaya said: They were dragging about, here and there, the bodies and severed limbs, and also the heads of the masses of men, horses, and elephants—an image of the battlefield’s ruthless aftermath, where the frenzy of war reduces living beings to scattered remains.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the dehumanizing and indiscriminate devastation of war: humans and animals alike are reduced to bodies and fragments, prompting reflection on the moral cost and the transient nature of embodied life.
Sañjaya describes a grim battlefield scene in which combatants (or attendants) pull and drag scattered corpses, severed limbs, and heads of men, horses, and elephants from one place to another amid the chaos after intense fighting.