Shloka 31
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
शीर्षपाषाणसंछन्ना: केशशैवलशाद्धला: । अस्थिमीनसमाकीर्णा धनुःशरगदोडुपा:
śīrṣapāṣāṇasaṃchannāḥ keśaśaivalśādvalāḥ | asthimīnasamākīrṇā dhanuḥśaragadoḍupāḥ ||
三阇耶说道：“那些河流被断首覆盖，宛如巨石；其上的发丝看似水藻与河草。白骨四散，如同群鱼；弓、箭与钉头槌，仿佛舟楫。”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse conveys the ethical shock of war by depicting nature inverted: heads become rocks, hair becomes algae, bones become fish, and weapons become boats. The teaching is not a celebration of violence but a stark reminder that adharma and unchecked wrath deform the world, turning the life-giving image of a river into a channel of death.
Sañjaya, narrating the Kurukṣetra war, describes the battlefield’s horrific aftermath in vivid metaphors. He portrays ‘rivers’ on the field—likely streams of blood and flows of bodies—so crowded with severed heads, hair, bones, and weapons that they resemble a grotesque landscape of rocks, weeds, fish, and boats.