Shloka 7
आयोधनदर्शनम्
Viewing the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra
गजाश्चनरनारीणां निःस्वनैरभिसंवृतम् | शृगालबककाकोलकड्ककाकनिषेवितम्,हाथियों, घोड़ों, मनुष्यों और स्त्रियोंके आर्तनादसे वह सारा युद्धस्थल गूँज रहा था। सियार, बगुले, काले कौए, कंक और काक उस भूमिका सेवन करते थे
gajāś ca nara-nārīṇāṃ niḥsvanair abhisamvṛtam | śṛgāla-baka-kākola-kaṅka-kāka-niṣevitam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: The entire battlefield was filled and enclosed by the cries and tumult of elephants and of men and women. It was being frequented by jackals, herons, black crows, kites, and crows—an ominous sign of the war’s aftermath and the moral desolation that follows mass slaughter.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical and existential cost of war: beyond victory or defeat, the battlefield becomes a place of universal suffering, where human lamentation and scavenging birds together signal the collapse of order and the grim consequences of violence.
Vaiśampāyana describes the Kurukṣetra battlefield after the slaughter: it resounds with cries and is overrun by carrion-seeking animals and birds, setting a mournful, ominous atmosphere appropriate to the Strīparvan’s focus on lamentation and the aftermath of the war.