Shloka 17

Devanagari script

आर्तनादस्वनवतीं पताकाशस्त्रफेनिलाम्‌ | नदीं प्रावर्तयन्‌ वीरा: परलोकौघगामिनीम्‌,वहाँ युद्ध करनेवाले वीरोंने खूनकी नदी बहा दी, जिसका प्रवाह परलोककी ओर ले जानेवाला था। वह रक्तकी नदी हाथी और घोड़ोंकी लाशोंसे प्रकट हुई थी। मनुष्योंके शरीरोंको बहाये लिये जाती थी। उसमें शस्त्ररूपी मछलियाँ भरी थीं। मांस और रक्त ही उसकी कीचड़ थे। पीड़ितोंके आर्तनाद ही उसकी कलकल ध्वनि थे तथा पताका और शस्त्र उसमें फेनके समान जान पड़ते थे

Transliteration

ārtanādasvanavatīṁ patākāśastraphenilām | nadīṁ prāvartayan vīrāḥ paralokaughagāminīm ||

Translation

आर्तनादस्वनवतीं पताकाशस्त्रफेनिलाम् । नदीं प्रावर्तयन् वीरा: परलोकौघगामिनीम् ॥

Word by Word

आर्तनादlamentation, distressed cry

स्वनवतीम्resounding (with sound)

पताकाbanner, flag

शस्त्रweapon

फेनिलाम्foamy, froth-filled

नदीम्river

प्रावर्तयन्causing to flow, setting in motion

वीराःheroes, warriors

परलोकthe other world, afterlife

ओघflood, stream, current

गामिनीम्going toward, leading to

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

warriors (vīrāḥ)

banners (patākā)

weapons (śastra)

river (nadī) leading to the afterlife (paraloka)

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 uses stark metaphor to expose the ethical cost of war: when violence dominates, the battlefield itself becomes a ‘river’ carrying beings toward death, and the defining sound is not heroism but the cries of the suffering.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya narrates the battle’s intensity by portraying it as a river set flowing by the warriors—its ‘foam’ like banners and weapons, its ‘sound’ like the lamentations of the wounded, and its current metaphorically leading to the next world.