Shloka 353
Yuddha-yajña-vyākhyāna (The Battle as Sacrifice): Ambarīṣa–Indra Saṃvāda
नदी योधस्य संग्रामे तदस्याव भृथं स्मृतम् । जिस योद्धाके युद्धरूपी यज्ञमें रक्तकी नदी प्रवाहित होती है
nadī yodhasya saṅgrāme tad asyāva bhṛthaṃ smṛtam |
アンバリーシャは言った。「戦士にとって、戦場に流れる川—血で成る川—は、祭祀の結びに行う浄めの沐浴アヴァブリタ（avabhṛtha）と見なされる。『戦のヤジュニャ（戦祭）』に入った者にとって、その恐るべき流れは、凄惨で渡り難くとも、儀礼の成就となる。血はその水、太鼓の轟きはその生き物、骨は砂利と砂、そして武器こそ渡河の手立てである。」この譬えは、戦闘を単なる暴力ではなく、道義の重みを帯びた厳粛な儀礼として描き、勇気と決意、危難を引き受けることを戦士の供犠の完成として位置づける。
अम्बरीष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses Vedic ritual language to interpret a warrior’s battle as a solemn, duty-bound rite: the terrifying blood-river of combat is likened to the avabhṛtha bath that completes a sacrifice, suggesting that for a kṣatriya acting within dharma, endurance and courage in battle carry a ritual-ethical significance rather than being mere brutality.
Ambarīṣa is speaking and introduces a metaphor: in the ‘war-sacrifice,’ the battlefield becomes a river of blood, and for the warrior that river is treated as the concluding sacrificial bath (avabhṛtha). The surrounding prose elaborates the metaphor with vivid battlefield details (blood, bones, weapons, drums), emphasizing the dreadfulness and difficulty of ‘crossing’ it.