Shloka 31
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
महासर्पाज्गभिदधराश्षित्राभरणधारिण: । रजोध्वस्ता: पड्कदिग्धा: सर्वे शुक्लाम्बरस्रज:
mahāsarpājgabhidadharāś citrābharaṇadhāriṇaḥ | rajodhvastāḥ paṅkadigdhāḥ sarve śuklāmbara-srajaḥ ||
Sañjaya disse: “Todos usavam ornamentos vistosos e guirlandas sobre vestes brancas; contudo estavam cobertos de poeira e manchados de lama—como grandes serpentes de capelos brilhantes. A cena ressalta como, após a violência, os sinais exteriores de posto e refinamento são eclipsados pela sujeira do sofrimento e pela desordem moral que se segue ao massacre.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts external signs of nobility—white garments, garlands, ornaments—with the dust and mud of devastation, suggesting that violence reduces all to a common condition and that outward splendor cannot shield one from the ethical and human consequences of war.
Sañjaya describes a group (warriors/men in the scene) whose appearance is simultaneously adorned and defiled: they still bear ornaments and garlands on white clothing, but are coated with dust and mud, evoking a vivid, unsettling image of the post-slaughter environment.