Shloka 11
पश्य भारत चापानि रुक्मपृष्ठानि धन्विनाम् | मृतानामपविद्धानि कलापांश्व महाधनान्,“भरतनन्दन! देखो, मरे हुए धनुर्धरोंके ये सोनेके पृष्ठभागवाले धनुष और बहुमूल्य तरकस फेंके पड़े हैं
paśya bhārata cāpāni rukmapṛṣṭhāni dhanvinām | mṛtānām apaviddhāni kalāpāṁś ca mahādhanān ||
Sañjaya said: “Behold, O Bhārata—here lie the bows of the archers, their backs plated with gold, cast away after their owners have fallen; and here too are the costly quivers, flung aside. Such is the stark testimony of battle: when life departs, even prized weapons and splendid war-gear become abandoned objects, reminding the listener of the terrible waste that accompanies adharma-driven slaughter and the fragility of worldly possessions.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores impermanence and the moral cost of war: even magnificent, expensive weapons become meaningless when their owners are dead, urging reflection on how attachment to power and possessions collapses before death and the consequences of violent conflict.
Sañjaya, narrating the battlefield to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, points out the abandoned gold-adorned bows and valuable quivers of fallen archers, emphasizing the scale of death and the desolation left by the fighting.