Shloka 69
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
कालीं रक्तास्यनयनां रक्तमाल्यानुलेपनाम् | रक्ताम्बरधरामेकां पाशहस्तां कुटुम्बिनीम्
kālīṁ raktāsyanayanāṁ raktamālyānulepanām | raktāmbaradharām ekāṁ pāśahastāṁ kuṭumbinīm ||
कालीं रक्तास्यनयनां रक्तमाल्यानुलेपनाम् । रक्ताम्बरधरामेकां पाशहस्तां कुटुम्बिनीम् ॥ तां पाण्डवपक्षीयाः समरे ददृशुः—मूर्तिमतीं कालरात्रिं, कृष्णवर्णां रक्तमुखीं रक्तनेत्रां, रक्तमाल्यविलेपनां रक्तवस्त्रधारिणीम्; एकाकिनीं विचित्रां पाशहस्तां, स्वगणपरिवृतां, गीतं गायन्तीं, घोरैः पाशैर्नराश्वकुञ्जरान् बद्ध्वा नयन्तीम्।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
When warfare descends into adharma, its consequences are portrayed as inevitable and supra-human: Death/Time (Kālarātri) ‘binds’ beings like a noose, emphasizing karmic ripening and the collapse of moral restraint.
In Sañjaya’s report, the warriors perceive a terrifying embodied figure—Kālarātri—marked by red eyes and mouth, red adornments and clothing, holding a noose and accompanied by attendants. The apparition functions as a portent that many lives are about to be taken and that the night’s violence is under the shadow of inexorable death.