Shloka 16
Adhyāya 140: Rātriyuddhe Droṇa-prāpti-prayatnaḥ
Night engagement and the attempt to reach Droṇa
वारणाश्वमनुष्याणां रुधिरौघसमुद्धवा । संवृता गतसच्त्वैश्व मनुष्यगजवाजिभि:,हाथी, घोड़े और मनुष्योंके रुधिरसमूहसे उस नदीका प्राकट्य हुआ था। वह प्राणशून्य मनुष्यों, हाथियों और घोड़ोंसे घिरी हुई थी
vāraṇāśva-manuṣyāṇāṁ rudhiraugha-samudbhavā | saṁvṛtā gata-sattvaiś ca manuṣya-gaja-vājibhiḥ ||
ఏనుగులు, గుర్రాలు, మనుషుల రక్తప్రవాహాల నుంచే ఆ నది ఉద్భవించింది; ప్రాణరహిత మనుష్యులు, గజాలు, వాజులు చుట్టూ దానిని ఆవరించి ఉన్నాయి.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the catastrophic moral and human cost of war: when violence becomes unchecked, the very landscape is imagined as transformed by blood and corpses, serving as a stark reminder of the consequences of adharma and relentless hostility.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield in extreme, poetic realism: so much blood has flowed from elephants, horses, and men that it is likened to a river, and that ‘river’ is bordered and choked by the dead bodies of warriors and animals.