Shloka 66
भीष्मस्य मध्याह्नयुद्धवर्णनम् / Mid-day Battle Description: Bhīṣma Engaged by the Pāñcālas
स्रस्तहस्तैश्व मातज्रैः शयानैर्विबभौ मही । नानारूपैरलंकारै: प्रमदेवाभ्यलंकृता
srastahastaiś ca mātaṅgaiḥ śayānair vibhāu mahī | nānārūpair alaṅkāraiḥ pramadevābhya-alaṅkṛtā ||
サンジャヤは言った。「大地は、鼻を断たれて倒れ伏した象たちが散り敷かれ、気を失ったまま地に横たわることで、かえって光を放つかのようであった。その戦場は、さまざまな飾りを身にまとう若い女のように見えた。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a deliberately unsettling simile—war’s carnage portrayed as ‘ornamentation’—to intensify the ethical tension of the Kurukṣetra conflict: poetic beauty can describe horror, thereby forcing the listener to confront the cost of adharma and the tragic consequences of battle.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield is covered with elephants whose trunks have been cut off and who lie fallen; their bodies and severed parts make the ground ‘shine,’ likened to a maiden adorned with many ornaments.