Shloka 39
पज्च चाश्वसहस्राणि रथानां शतमेव च । हत्वा प्रास्यन्दयद् भीमो नदीं शोणितवाहिनीम्,भारत! युद्धसे पीछे न हटनेवाले दस हजार गजराजों, दो लाख और दो सौ पैदल मनुष्यों, पाँच हजार घोड़ों और सौ रथोंको नष्ट करके भीमसेनने वहाँ रक्तकी नदी बहा दी
pañca cāśva-sahasrāṇi rathānāṃ śatam eva ca | hatvā prāsyandayad bhīmo nadīṃ śoṇita-vāhinīm, bhārata |
पञ्च चाश्वसहस्राणि रथानां शतमेव च । हत्वा प्रास्यन्दयद् भीमो नदीं शोणितवाहिनीम् ॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the stark moral tension of kṣatriya warfare: steadfast valor can be praised as duty in battle, yet it simultaneously produces immense suffering—symbolized by the ‘river of blood.’ It invites reflection on the ethical weight and human cost of martial success.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Bhīma, in the thick of combat, has killed vast numbers—here specified as five thousand horses and a hundred chariots—so that the battlefield is metaphorically described as flooded by a river of blood.