Shloka 21
मण्युत्तमा वज्रसुवर्णमुक्ता रत्नानि चोच्चावचमड्नलानि । गात्राणि चात्यन्तसुखोचितानि शिरांसि चेन्दुप्रतिमाननानि
maṇyuttamā vajrasuvarṇamuktā ratnāni coccāvacamaḍnalāni | gātrāṇi cātyantasukhocitāni śirāṃsi cendupratimānanāni ||
Śalya said: “There are excellent gems—diamond, gold, pearls—and many kinds of ornaments set with precious stones. There are bodies fit for the highest pleasures, and heads with faces lovely like the moon.” (In context, Śalya is evoking the allure of wealth, luxury, and beauty—often as a prelude to warning how such worldly splendor is fragile and can be shattered by the harsh ethics and realities of war.)
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the seductive power of wealth, ornaments, and physical beauty, implicitly pointing to their impermanence—especially amid war—thereby urging discernment (viveka) and ethical steadiness rather than attachment to transient splendor.
Śalya is speaking within the Karṇa Parva war setting, describing riches and attractive human beauty. Such imagery typically functions as a rhetorical setup: to contrast worldly luxury with the battlefield’s brutality and to frame counsel, criticism, or reflection on the costs of conflict.