Shloka 66

भीष्मस्य मध्याह्नयुद्धवर्णनम् / Mid-day Battle Description: Bhīṣma Engaged by the Pāñcālas

Devanagari script

स्रस्तहस्तैश्व मातज्रैः शयानैर्विबभौ मही । नानारूपैरलंकारै: प्रमदेवाभ्यलंकृता,जिनकी सूँड़ें कट गयी थीं, ऐसे मतवाले हाथी धराशायी हो रहे थे। उन सबके द्वारा वह रणभूमि भाँति-भाँतिके अलंकारोंसे अलंकृत युवतीके समान सुशोभित हो रही थी

Transliteration

srastahastaiś ca mātaṅgaiḥ śayānair vibhāu mahī | nānārūpair alaṅkāraiḥ pramadevābhya-alaṅkṛtā ||

Translation

Sañjaya berkata: “Bumi tampak bersinar, dipenuhi gajah-gajah yang rebah—belalainya tertebas—terbaring tidak sedarkan diri di tanah. Medan perang itu seolah-olah seorang gadis muda yang dihiasi pelbagai perhiasan.”

Word by Word

स्रस्तहस्तैःby (those) whose hands/trunks were fallen/disabled

चand

मातङ्गैःby elephants

शयानैःby (those) lying (on the ground)

विबभौshone, appeared splendid

महीthe earth / the battlefield ground

नानारूपैःwith various forms

अलंकारैःwith ornaments

प्रमदेवlike a young woman (as if a maiden)

अभ्यलंकृताadorned, decorated

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

mahī (the earth/ground)

mātaṅga (elephants)

hastāḥ (elephants’ trunks)

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 uses a deliberately unsettling simile—war’s carnage portrayed as ‘ornamentation’—to intensify the ethical tension of the Kurukṣetra conflict: poetic beauty can describe horror, thereby forcing the listener to confront the cost of adharma and the tragic consequences of battle.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield is covered with elephants whose trunks have been cut off and who lie fallen; their bodies and severed parts make the ground ‘shine,’ likened to a maiden adorned with many ornaments.