Shloka 43
कर्ण-पाण्डव-संमर्दः — Karṇa and Arjuna’s Intensified Engagement
मनुष्याश्वगजानां च शरीरैर्गतजीवितै: । क्षणेन भूमि: संजज्ञे संवृता भरतर्षभ
manuṣyāśvagajānāṁ ca śarīrair gatajīvitaiḥ | kṣaṇena bhūmiḥ saṁjajñe saṁvṛtā bharatarṣabha ||
సంజయుడు పలికెను—ఓ భరతశ్రేష్ఠా! క్షణమాత్రంలోనే మనుష్యులు, గుర్రాలు, ఏనుగుల ప్రాణరహిత శరీరాలతో భూమి అంతటా కప్పబడినట్లైంది.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the rapid and totalizing destruction caused by war: life is fragile, and violence swiftly turns living beings into lifeless bodies. Ethically, it presses the listener to confront the human and ecological cost of conflict, beyond victory or defeat.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the battlefield has, in an instant, become covered with corpses—humans along with cavalry and war-elephants—conveying the intensity of the fighting and the scale of slaughter.