Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 68

Chapter 23: Śakuni Reports, Kaurava Advance, and Arjuna’s Penetration of the Host

Devanagari script

असिभिश्किद्यमानानां शिरसां लोकसंक्षये

Transliteration

asibhiś chidyamānānāṃ śirasāṃ lokasaṃkṣaye

Translation

សញ្ជ័យបាននិយាយថា៖ នៅពេលក្បាលត្រូវបានកាត់ផ្តាច់ដោយដាវៗ ពិភពលោកទាំងមូលហាក់ដូចជាកំពុងរត់ទៅរកការវិនាស។

Word by Word

• असिभिः: with swords
• असिभिः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: असि
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• किद्यमानानाम्: of (those) being cut/torn
• Type: Adjective
• Root: किद्य (धातु)
• Form: Neuter, Genitive, Plural

• शिरसाम्: of heads
• Type: Noun
• Root: शिरस्
• Form: Neuter, Genitive, Plural

• लोकसंक्षये: in the destruction of the world/people
• लोकसंक्षये: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: लोकसंक्षय
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• swords
• heads
• the world (loka)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the catastrophic moral and human cost of war: when violence becomes pervasive, it feels as though the very order of the world is collapsing, warning against the escalation of adharma and unchecked slaughter.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya, reporting the battlefield to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describes the ferocity of combat—swords cutting down warriors so relentlessly that the scene appears like a universal devastation (lokasaṃkṣaya).