Shloka 10
शरप्रहाराभिहतैर्महाबलै- रवेक्ष्यममाणै: पतितै: सहस्रश: । दिवश्ष्युतैर्भूरतिदीप्तिमद्धि- नक्त ग्रहैद्यौरमलप्रदीप्तै:,बाणोंके प्रहारसे घायल होकर गिरे हुए सहस्रों महाबली योद्धा आकाशसे नीचे गिरे हुए अत्यन्त दीप्तिमान् एवं निर्मल प्रभासे प्रकाशित ग्रहोंके समान दिखायी देते हैं और उनसे ढकी हुई यह भूमि रातके समय उन ग्रहोंसे व्याप्त हुए आकाशके सदृश सुशोभित होती है
śaraprahārābhihatair mahābalair avekṣyamāṇaiḥ patitaiḥ sahasraśaḥ | divaś cyutair bhūr atidīptimadbhir naktagrahair dyauḥ amalapradīptaiḥ ||
Śalya said: “Struck down by volleys of arrows, thousands of mighty warriors lie fallen, no longer able to look about. They appear like brilliantly shining, spotless stars that have dropped from the sky; and the earth, covered with them, is beautified like the night-sky filled with luminous constellations.”
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grim cost of war: even the mighty fall in heaps. Yet it also reflects the epic’s ethical tension—kṣatriya valor and duty unfold amid profound human loss, which the poet renders with awe-inspiring but unsettling beauty.
Śalya describes the battlefield after intense arrow-fire: thousands of powerful fighters have been struck and lie fallen. Their bodies, gleaming with armor and weapons, are compared to bright, pure stars fallen from the sky, making the earth resemble a star-filled night.