Shloka 97
Kārttikeya-Abhiṣecana: Mātṛgaṇa-Nāma Saṃkīrtana and Skanda’s Commission
कृष्णा निर्मासवक्त्राश्च दीर्घपृष्ठास्तनूदरा: । स्थूलपृष्ठा हस्वपृष्ठा: प्रलम्बोदरमेहना:,कोई काले थे, किन्हींके मुखपर मांसरहित हड्डियोंका ढाँचामात्र था। किन्हींकी पीठ बहुत बड़ी थी और पेट भीतरको धँसा हुआ था। किन्हींकी पीठ मोटी और किन्हींकी छोटी थी। किन्हींके पेट और मूत्रेन्द्रिय दोनों बड़े थे
kṛṣṇā nirmāṃsavaktrāś ca dīrghapṛṣṭhāstanūdarāḥ | sthūlapṛṣṭhā hrasvapṛṣṭhāḥ pralambodaramehanāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “They appeared dark and ghastly—some with faces stripped of flesh, showing only a framework of bones. Some had unusually long backs with bellies drawn inward; some were broad-backed, others short-backed; and some had distended bellies and enlarged organs of urination.” In the ethical atmosphere of the war’s aftermath, the verse underscores how violence deforms and reduces living beings to pitiable, unnatural states, evoking revulsion and compassion rather than triumph.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as a moral shock: it highlights the grotesque bodily degradation associated with violence and its aftermath, discouraging any glorification of war and prompting compassion and ethical reflection on the consequences of adharma and cruelty.
Vaiśampāyana describes a terrifying sight of beings with distorted, skeletal, and abnormal bodies—an image used to convey the grim atmosphere surrounding the events in Shalya Parva and the dreadful consequences that follow the great war.