स वीरः सत्यवान् प्राज्ञो धर्मनित्यः सुदारुणः ॥
युगान्तकाले यन्तेव रौद्रां प्रास्कन्दयन् नदीम् ॥
अमर्षवेगप्रभवां क्रव्यादगणसंकुलाम् ॥
बलौघैः सर्वतः पूर्णां वीरवृक्षापहारिणीम् ॥
शोणितोदां रथावर्तां हस्त्यश्वकृतरोधसम् ॥
कवचोडुपसंयुक्तां मांसपङ्कसमाकुलाम् ॥
मेदोमज्जास्थिसिकताम् उष्णीषवरफेनिलाम् ॥
संग्रामजलदापूर्णां प्रासमत्स्यसमाकुलाम् ॥
नरनागाश्वसंभूतां शरवेगौघवाहिनीम् ॥
शरीरदारुशृङ्गाटां भुजनागसमाकुलाम् ॥
sa vīraḥ satyavān prājño dharmanityaḥ sudāruṇaḥ ||
yugāntakāle yanteva raudrāṃ prāskandayan nadīm ||
amarṣavegaprabhavāṃ kravyādagaṇasaṃkulām ||
balaughaiḥ sarvataḥ pūrṇāṃ vīravṛkṣāpahāriṇīm ||
śoṇitodāṃ rathāvartāṃ hastyaśvakṛtarodhasam ||
kavacoḍupasaṃyuktāṃ māṃsapaṅkasamākulām ||
medomajjāsthisikatām uṣṇīṣavaraphenilām ||
saṃgrāmajaladāpūrṇāṃ prāsamatsyasamākulām ||
naranāgāśvasaṃbhūtāṃ śaravegaughavāhinīm ||
śarīradāruśṛṅgāṭāṃ bhujanāgasamākulām ||
That hero — truthful, wise, ever faithful to dharma, yet [terrible] in battle — like the charioteer [of Time] at the close of an age, sent forth a dreadful [river]: a river streaming from the onrush of fury, swarming with packs of flesh-devouring beasts, filled from every quarter with streams of armies, sweeping away fallen warriors like trees; whose flow was blood, whose whirlpools were chariots, whose banks were of elephants and horses; bearing armor for rafts, and roiling with a mire of flesh; whose sand was fat, marrow, and bones, whose foam was torn turbans; poured full as by the cloud of battle, swarming with dart-fish; born of the bodies of men, elephants, and horses, bearing the current of arrows; strewn with body-snags and bony thorns, and full of arms like writhing serpents.
eb88a2aa50b6 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:00:03 PM UTC
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Telling is the opening: Drona is "truthful, wise, righteous — and yet terrible in battle": the tale conceals no contradiction here — the bearer of dharma makes a river of blood flow, in the service of wrong. The elaborate metaphor of the blood-river itself indicts the horror of war: that which ought to give drink and nourishment (a river) is turned into a stream of death. The image of "the charioteer of Time at the close of an age" raises the slaughter to the scale of cosmic dissolution. The verse teaches that even the righteous, placed in the service of wrong, commit deeds of horror — hence valor alone does not matter, but also the side for which it is spent; that war turns the source of life into a river of death; and that every great massacre is a small image of the world's end, re-enacted by human enmity.