Shloka 38
शरैश्छिन्नानि गात्राणि विहरिष्यन्ति केशव । “केशव! आज चक्रवाक तथा भिन्न-भिन्न मांसभोजी पक्षी बाणोंसे कटे हुए कर्णके अंगोंको उठा ले जायूँगे ।। अद्य राधासुतस्याहं संग्रामे मधुसूदन
śaraiś chinnāni gātrāṇi viharīṣyanti keśava | adya cakravākā tathā bhinna-bhinna-māṃsa-bhojinaḥ pakṣiṇaḥ bāṇaiḥ kaṭe rādheya-sutasya aṅgāni utthāya neṣyanti ||
Sanjaya said: “O Keśava, limbs severed by arrows will be strewn about. Today the cakravāka birds, and other flesh-eating birds of various kinds, will lift and carry away the arrow-cut limbs of Rādheya’s son (Karna) from the battlefield.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grim moral cost of war: even the greatest heroes are reduced to impermanence, and the battlefield becomes a place where life is consumed by death. It functions as a stark reminder of mortality and the ethical weight borne by those who choose or sustain violent conflict.
Sañjaya, narrating the battle to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, addresses Kṛṣṇa (Keśava) and foretells the immediate aftermath of Karṇa’s fall: his arrow-severed limbs will lie scattered, and birds will carry them away from the field.