Shloka 30
स्तन्यस्य मातुर्मधुसर्पिषोर्वा माध्वीकपानस्य च सत्कृतस्य । दिव्यस्य वा तोयरसस्य पानात् पयोदधिभ्यां मथिताच्च मुख्यात्
stanyasya mātur madhu-sarpiṣor vā mādhvīka-pānasya ca satkṛtasya | divyasya vā toya-rasasya pānāt payo-dadhibhyāṁ mathitāc ca mukhyāt |
Wika ni Sañjaya: “Natamasa ko na ang gatas ng aking ina; nainom ko na ang pulot at ghee; natikman ko na ang mādhvīka—ang inuming mula sa bulaklak ng madhūka na inihandang mahusay; nalasap ko na ang diwa ng makalangit na tubig; at natikman ko na ang pinakamainam na sariwang mantikilyang hinango sa gatas at gatas-asim. Ngunit higit na masarap kaysa sa lahat ng iyon—at kaysa sa alinmang inuming pinupuri sa daigdig na tila amṛta—ang lasa ng dugo ng aking kaaway.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses extreme taste-imagery to show how war can invert values: what is naturally pure and nourishing (milk, honey, ghee) is rhetorically surpassed by the ‘taste’ of an enemy’s blood. It warns, by depiction, how vengeance and battlefield fury can eclipse ordinary ethical sensibilities.
Sañjaya reports a warrior’s fierce boast in the midst of the Kurukṣetra conflict: after listing the finest drinks known in human and even divine experience, the speaker declares that the blood of his enemy is more gratifying than all of them—highlighting the brutality and psychological intensity of the battle.