Daiva–Puruṣakāra Discourse and the Elephant-Corps Engagement (भीमगजानीक-सम्भ्रान्ति)
स चक्रे वसुधां कीर्णा शबलै: कुसुमैरिव । भीमसेनने बहुत-से प्रासों, विचित्र यन्त्रों और चमकीले शस्त्रोंसे वहाँकी भूमिको पाट दिया, जिससे वह चितकबरे पुष्पोंसे आच्छादित-सी प्रतीत होने लगी || ६१ ह ।। आप्लुत्य रथिन: कांश्चित् परामृश्य महाबल:
sa cakre vasudhāṁ kīrṇāṁ śabalaiḥ kusumair iva | āplutya rathinaḥ kāṁścit parāmṛśya mahābalaḥ ||
स चक्रे वसुधां कीर्णां शबलैः कुसुमैरिव। आप्लुत्य रथिनः कांश्चित् परामृश्य महाबलः॥
संजय उवाच
The verse uses a striking simile—ground looking like it is covered with colorful flowers—to show how warfare can aesthetically resemble beauty while actually being formed by destruction; it invites reflection on the deceptive appearance of glory in violence and the heavy cost of kṣatriya conflict.
Sañjaya describes a mighty warrior (contextually Bhīmasena) surging into the fray, leaping among chariot-fighters and striking them, so that the battlefield becomes strewn and mottled—like a flower-strewn earth—because of the scattered weapons and fallen combatants.