Shloka 32

Śiva’s Battlefield Manifestation and Vyāsa’s Śatarudrīya Exposition (शिवप्रादुर्भावः शतरुद्रीयव्याख्यानम्)

Devanagari script

भुजैश्छिन्नैर्महीपाल हस्तिहस्तोपमैर्मथे । समाकीर्णा मही भाति पज्चास्यैरिव पन्नगै:,भूपाल! हाथीकी सूँड़के समान मोटी एवं कटी हुई भुजाओंसे आच्छादित हुई वह रणभूमि पाँच मुँहवाले सर्पोंसे ढठकी हुई-सी जान पड़ती थी

Transliteration

bhujaiś chinnaiḥ mahīpāla hastihastopamaiḥ mathe | samākīrṇā mahī bhāti pañcāsyair iva pannagaiḥ ||

Translation

भुजैश्छिन्नैर्महीपाल हस्तिहस्तोपमैर्मृधे। समाकीर्णा मही भाति पञ्चास्यैरिव पन्नगैः॥

Word by Word

भुजैःwith arms

छिन्नैःcut off, severed

महीपालO king (protector of the earth)

हस्ति-हस्त-उपमैःlike elephants' trunks

मथेin the battle, in the churning (melee)

समाकीर्णाstrewn, filled, covered

महीthe earth; the ground (battlefield)

भातिshines, appears

पञ्च-आस्यैःwith five mouths (five-headed)

इवlike, as if

पन्नगैःby serpents

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by mahīpāla)

battlefield (raṇabhūmi)

earth/ground (mahī)

elephant trunk (hasti-hasta)

serpents (pannaga), five-hooded serpents (pañcāsya)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse offers a stark ethical reminder of war’s dehumanizing aftermath: even the valor of kings culminates in mutilation and horror. By likening severed arms to elephant trunks and the ground to a bed of five-hooded serpents, the text highlights the karmic and moral weight of violence and the tragic cost of unchecked ambition.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the king the gruesome condition of the battlefield during the Drona Parva fighting. The ground is covered with cut-off arms, and the scene is so dreadful that it resembles a mass of five-hooded serpents.