Shloka 8
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
घोरमायोधन जज्ञे पशूनां वैशसं यथा । वहाँ मारे जाते और एक-दूसरेको कोसते हुए शूरवीरोंके आर्तनादसे वह युद्धस्थल वैसा ही भयंकर जान पड़ता था, मानो वहाँ पशुओंका वध किया जा रहा हो ।।
ghoram āyodhanaṁ jajñe paśūnāṁ vaiśasaṁ yathā | rudhireṇa samāstīrṇā bhāti bhārata medinī ||
サञ्जयは言った。「おぞましい合戦が起こった。まるで獣を屠る惨状のようであった。血にあまねく覆われ、バーラタの大地は陰惨にして恐るべき姿を呈した。討たれゆく勇士たちの叫びと、互いを呪う声がその恐怖をいよいよ増し、戦場は屠場が息を吹き返したかのようであった。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical horror of war: even when framed as kṣatriya-duty, battle can devolve into indiscriminate slaughter. By likening the field to animal butchery and stressing blood-soaked earth and anguished cries, it warns that violence dehumanizes and leaves a moral stain, urging reflection on dharma amid conflict.
Sañjaya narrates to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the intensity of the fighting in the Karṇa Parva: the battlefield has become terrifying, filled with the cries of dying warriors, mutual curses, and the ground strewn with blood—so dreadful it resembles a place where animals are being slaughtered.