Shloka 16

Devanagari script

गजाश्वकायप्रभवां नरदेहप्रवाहिनीम्‌ । शस्त्रमत्स्यसुसम्पूर्णा मांसशोणितकर्दमाम्‌,वहाँ युद्ध करनेवाले वीरोंने खूनकी नदी बहा दी, जिसका प्रवाह परलोककी ओर ले जानेवाला था। वह रक्तकी नदी हाथी और घोड़ोंकी लाशोंसे प्रकट हुई थी। मनुष्योंके शरीरोंको बहाये लिये जाती थी। उसमें शस्त्ररूपी मछलियाँ भरी थीं। मांस और रक्त ही उसकी कीचड़ थे। पीड़ितोंके आर्तनाद ही उसकी कलकल ध्वनि थे तथा पताका और शस्त्र उसमें फेनके समान जान पड़ते थे

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | gajāśvakāyaprabhavāṃ naradehapravāhinīm | śastramatsyasusampūrṇāṃ māṃsaśoṇitakardamām |

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。「象と馬の屍から生じた血の河が流れ、人の身体を押し流していった。その河は武器という“魚”で満ち、泥は肉と血であった。」

Word by Word

गजof elephants

अश्वof horses

कायof bodies/carcasses

प्रभवाम्arising from, originating in

नरof men

देहof bodies

प्रवाहिनीम्a stream/river (that carries along)

शस्त्रwith weapons; of weapons

मत्स्यfish

सुwell, thoroughly

सम्पूर्णाःfilled, full

मांसwith flesh

शोणितwith blood

कर्दमाम्mud, mire

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

elephants

horses

weapons

human bodies

river of blood (metaphorical)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses a stark metaphor to reveal the ethical weight of warfare: even when combat is framed as duty, its reality is dehumanizing slaughter, and its consequences carry lives toward death and the afterlife.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the battlefield as a literalized ‘river’ of blood formed from fallen elephants and horses, carrying human corpses; weapons are imagined as fish within it, and flesh and blood as its mud—conveying the scale of carnage.