Shloka 40
Adhyāya 18 — Sequential Duels and Formation Pressure
Ulūka–Yuyutsu; Śakuni–Sutasoma; Kṛpa–Dhṛṣṭadyumna; Kṛtavarmā–Śikhaṇḍin
साडगुलिन्रैर्भुजाग्रैश्न विप्रविद्धेरलंकृतैः । हस्तिहस्तोपमैश्छिन्नैरूरुभिश्न॒ तरस्विनाम्
ṣāḍgulīndrair bhujāgraiś ca vipraviddhair alaṅkṛtaiḥ | hastihastopamaiś chinnair ūrubhiś ca tarasvinām ||
Sañjaya said: The battlefield was strewn with severed limbs—mighty forearms and the tips of arms, adorned with armlets and pierced by arrows; and with the cut-off thighs of powerful warriors, huge like the trunks of elephants. The description underscores the terrible cost of wrath and rivalry in war, where valor and ornament alike are reduced to lifeless fragments, warning how violence eclipses human dignity and dharma.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the dehumanizing aftermath of battle: strength, beauty, and status-symbols (ornaments) cannot protect life. It implicitly cautions that when anger and ambition dominate, dharma is obscured and the result is widespread suffering.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the gruesome scene on the battlefield: severed, arrow-pierced arms and thighs of powerful warriors lie scattered, described through vivid similes (serpents and elephant trunks) to convey their size and the scale of slaughter.