Shloka 13
Vāsudeva-Māhātmya: Duryodhana’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Theological Account of Keśava
वराश्चनरनागानां शरीरप्रभवा तदा | परलोकार्णवमुखी गृध्रगोमायुमोदिनी
sañjaya uvāca |
varāś ca nara-nāgānāṃ śarīra-prabhavā tadā |
paralokārṇava-mukhī gṛdhra-gomāyu-modinī ||
सञ्जय उवाच—तदा वराहनरनागानां शरीरप्रभवा नदी समुत्थिता, परलोकार्णवमुखी प्रववृते; सा गृध्रगोमायून् प्रमोदयामास। रणक्षेत्रे महावेगेन रक्तनदी प्रवहन्ती दृश्यते स्म; तस्यां नगा इव शिलाखण्डा गजदेहा बभूवुः, रक्तमांसं च पङ्कवत् प्रतीयते स्म। सा महागजाश्वनरदेहसमुद्भवा नदी परलोकसमुद्रं प्रति प्रवहन्ती गृध्रगोमायुमोदिनी बभूव।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses stark imagery to show the moral cost of war: slaughter turns life into a ‘river’ that carries beings toward death (paraloka). It underscores impermanence and the karmic gravity of violence—only scavengers benefit, while humans incur suffering and loss.
Sañjaya narrates the Kurukṣetra carnage: a figurative river, born from the bodies of men and elephants (and other creatures), flows toward the ‘ocean of the other world,’ while vultures and jackals are pleased—emphasizing the battlefield’s horror.