Shloka 3
शूरास्थिचयसंकीर्णा काकगृध्रानुनादिताम् । छत्रहंसप्लवोपेतां वीरवृक्षापहारिणीम्
śūrāsthicayasaṅkīrṇā kākagṛdhrānunāditām | chatrahaṃsaplavopetāṃ vīravṛkṣāpahāriṇīm
Sañjaya said: “The battlefield was strewn with heaps of heroes’ bones, resounding with the cries of crows and vultures; it was marked by fallen parasols, likened to swans and waterfowl, and it carried off the ‘trees’ of warriors—an image of war’s pitiless harvest, where valor ends in ruin and the righteous are reminded of life’s fragility amid slaughter.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral gravity and transience revealed by war: even heroic strength and royal insignia (parasols) end as debris, while scavenger cries dominate. It implicitly cautions against pride and reminds the listener that dharma must be weighed against the devastating cost of violence.
Sañjaya paints a vivid, grim tableau of the battlefield—bones scattered everywhere, crows and vultures calling, and fallen parasols compared to swans and waterfowl—portraying the field as a force that ‘carries off’ mighty warriors like trees felled in a storm.