Shloka 43
हारपद्माकरां चैव भूमिरेणूमिमालिनीम् । आर्यवृत्तवतां संख्ये सुतरां भीरुदुस्तराम्
sañjaya uvāca |
hārapadmākarāṃ caiva bhūmir eṇūmimālinīm |
āryavṛttavatāṃ saṅkhye sutarāṃ bhīrudustarām ||
ಸಂಜಯನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ಭೂಮಿಯು ಹಾರಗಳ ಕಮಲಸರೋವರದಂತೆ ಕಾಣಿತು; ಏಳುವ ಧೂಳೇ ಅದರ ತರಂಗಮಾಲೆಯಾಯಿತು. ಆ ಸಮರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅದು ವೈತರಣಿಯಂತೆ—ಆರ್ಯವೃತ್ತ, ಸದಾಚಾರಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಸುಲಭವಾಗಿ ದಾಟಬಹುದಾದುದು; ಭೀತರಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಅತ್ಯಂತ ದುಸ್ತರವಾಗಿತ್ತು.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts inner character under crisis: the same terrifying battlefield becomes ‘crossable’ for those grounded in ārya-vṛtta (noble discipline and courage) but ‘uncrossable’ for the fearful. Ethical steadiness is portrayed as the true means of passage through peril.
Sañjaya poetically reports the battlefield’s appearance: dust rises in wave-like surges, and the ground seems like a lotus-lake strewn with necklaces—part of the larger depiction of the horrific ‘river’ of slaughter in the Karṇa Parva, likened to the Vaitaraṇī.