Mahabharata 11.19.8 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 19, Shloka 8
स्त्रीपर्व — गान्धारीविलापः
Strī Parva — Gāndhārī’s Lament over the Fallen
तस्यैतद् वदनं कृष्ण श्वापदैरर्धभक्षितम् । विभात्यभ्यधिकं तात सप्तम्यामिव चन्द्रमा:
tasyaitad vadanaṃ kṛṣṇa śvāpadair ardhabhakṣitam | vibhāty abhyadhikaṃ tāta saptamyām iva candramāḥ ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśampāyana: “O Kṛṣṇa, ang mukhang ito niya’y kalahating nilapa ng mababangis na hayop; gayunma’y lalo pang kapansin-pansin—gaya ng buwan sa ikapitong gabi.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the grotesque moral inversion produced by war: even a mutilated, scavenged corpse is compared to the moon’s beauty. The simile intensifies the reader’s revulsion and grief, implicitly warning that violence dehumanizes and distorts perception, leaving only tragic remnants where dignity should have been protected.
Vaiśaṃpāyana describes to Kṛṣṇa a fallen person’s face that has been half-devoured by scavenging animals. Despite the horror, it is said to ‘shine’ like the seventh-day moon—an image used to convey the stark, haunting appearance of the battlefield dead in the Strī-parvan’s lament-filled aftermath.
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