Shloka 48

Devanagari script

संजातरुधिरोत्पीड: प्रेक्षणीयो5भवदू रणे । गभस्तिभिरिवार्कस्य संस्यूतो जलदो महान्‌

Transliteration

sañjātarudhirotpīḍaḥ prekṣaṇīyo ’bhavad raṇe | gabhastibhir ivārkasya saṃsyūto jalado mahān ||

Translation

रणांगणात तो महान मेघ नव्याने उसळलेल्या रक्तधारांनी भरून पाहण्यासारखा झाला—जणू सूर्यकिरणांनी शिवलेला घन मेघच.

Word by Word

संजातरुधिरोत्पीडःhaving a gush/pressure of blood arisen

प्रेक्षणीयःworth seeing, splendid to behold

अभवत्became, was

रणेin battle

गभस्तिभिःwith rays

इवlike, as if

अर्कस्यof the sun

संस्यूतःstitched together, interwoven

जलदःcloud

महान्great, huge

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

the sun (arka)

a great cloud (jalada)

battlefield (raṇa)

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 underscores the moral horror of war: even what is naturally beautiful (sunlight and clouds) becomes intertwined with bloodshed, suggesting that violence distorts the world’s order and turns spectacle into suffering.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a battlefield scene where a vast cloud, lit and ‘bound’ by the sun’s rays, appears conspicuous; the imagery is colored by the sense of blood surging and spreading, heightening the grim atmosphere of the Kurukṣetra war.