Shloka 69
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
कालीं रक्तास्यनयनां रक्तमाल्यानुलेपनाम् | रक्ताम्बरधरामेकां पाशहस्तां कुटुम्बिनीम्
kālīṁ raktāsyanayanāṁ raktamālyānulepanām | raktāmbaradharām ekāṁ pāśahastāṁ kuṭumbinīm ||
Санджая сказал: «Они увидели Каларāтри во плоти — тёмную обликом, но с кроваво-красными ртом и глазами; украшенную красной гирляндой и красными благовониями, облачённую в красное. Она стояла одна, странная и жуткая, с арканом в руке, окружённая собственной свитой».
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
When warfare descends into adharma, its consequences are portrayed as inevitable and supra-human: Death/Time (Kālarātri) ‘binds’ beings like a noose, emphasizing karmic ripening and the collapse of moral restraint.
In Sañjaya’s report, the warriors perceive a terrifying embodied figure—Kālarātri—marked by red eyes and mouth, red adornments and clothing, holding a noose and accompanied by attendants. The apparition functions as a portent that many lives are about to be taken and that the night’s violence is under the shadow of inexorable death.