Shloka 44

Devanagari script

विषमं च सम॑ चैव हतैरश्चपदातिभि:

Transliteration

viṣamaṃ ca samaṃ caiva hatair aśva-padātibhiḥ

Translation

Sañjaya nói: “Mặt đất trở nên vừa gồ ghề vừa phẳng lỳ—bị giày xới và rải đầy xác ngựa cùng bộ binh ngã xuống, đến nỗi mọi trật tự trên chiến trường đều bị xóa nhòa.”

Word by Word

• विषमम्: uneven, irregular
• विषमम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विषम
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• समम्: even, level
• समम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सम
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed, just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• हतैः: by the slain (killed ones)
• हतैः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: हत
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Instrumental, Plural

• अश्व: horse
• Type: Noun
• Root: अश्व
• Form: Masculine, Stem (compound member), —

• पदातिभिः: by foot-soldiers
• पदातिभिः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: पदाति
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• horses (aśva)
• foot-soldiers (padāti)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the moral and existential cost of war: slaughter reduces the battlefield to a featureless ruin where distinctions (even/uneven, order/disorder) collapse—hinting at the leveling power of death and the heavy karmic weight of violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the battlefield’s condition during the fighting: it is littered with the slain—horses and infantry—so that the terrain appears both uneven and level, trampled and transformed by the carnage.