Shloka 85
युधिष्ठिरस्य धनंजय-प्रति गर्हा
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Reproach to Dhanaṃjaya
गाधेन चाप्लवन्तक्ष निमज्ज्योन्मज्य चापरे | विजयकी अभिलाषा रखनेवाले कितने ही वीर जहाँ थोड़ा रक्तमय जल था वहाँ तैरकर और जहाँ अथाह था वहाँ गोते लगा-लगाकर उसके दूसरे पार पहुँच जाते थे ।। ८४ $ ।। ते तु लोहितदिग्धाड़ा रक्तवर्मायुधाम्बरा:
gāḍhena cāplavantakṣa nimajjyomajyaca apare | vijayakī abhilāṣā rakhanevāle kitane hī vīr yatra thoḍā raktamaya jala thā tatra tairitvā yatra athāha thā tatra gote lāga-lāgakara tasya dvitīya pāraṃ prāpnuvanti sma || te tu lohitadigdhāḍyā raktavarmāyudhāmbarāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Some warriors, driven by the desire for victory, swam across where the blood-stained water was shallow; and where it was deep and unfathomable, they plunged and resurfaced again and again, finally reaching the farther bank. Those fighters were smeared with blood, their armour, weapons, and garments all reddened—an image of war’s grim cost, where ambition presses men onward even through a flood of slaughter.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how the thirst for victory can drive people to press forward even through horrific conditions, revealing war’s moral and human cost: courage and determination appear alongside the tragic normalization of bloodshed.
Sañjaya describes warriors crossing a blood-filled stretch—swimming where it is shallow and repeatedly diving and resurfacing where it is deep—until they reach the opposite bank, all of them smeared and clothed in blood-red armour and weapons.