सखड्गाः साङ्गुलित्राणाः सपट्टिशपरश्वधाः ॥
अदृश्यन्त भुजाश् छिन्ना हेमाभरणभूषिताः ॥
स्रग्भिर् आभरणैर् वस्त्रैः पतितैश् च महाध्वजैः ॥
वर्मभिश् चर्मभिर् हारैर् मुकुटैश् छत्रचामरैः ॥
अपस्करैर् अधिष्ठानैर् ईषादण्डकबन्धुरैः ॥
अक्षैर् विमथितैश् चक्रैर् भग्नैश् च बहुधा युगैः ॥
अनुकर्षैः पताकाभिस् तथा सारथिवाजिभिः ॥
रथैश् च भग्नैर् नागैश् च हतैः कीर्णाभवन् मही ॥
निहतैः क्षत्रियैः शूरैर् नानाजनपदेश्वरैः ॥
जयगृद्धैर् वृता भूमिर् दारुणा समपद्यत ॥
sakhaḍgāḥ sāṅgulitrāṇāḥ sapaṭṭiśaparaśvadhāḥ ||
adṛśyanta bhujāś chinnā hemābharaṇabhūṣitāḥ ||
sragbhir ābharaṇair vastraiḥ patitaiś ca mahādhvajaiḥ ||
varmabhiś carmabhir hārair mukuṭaiś chatracāmaraiḥ ||
apaskarair adhiṣṭhānair īṣādaṇḍakabandhuraiḥ ||
akṣair vimathitaiś cakrair bhagnaiś ca bahudhā yugaiḥ ||
anukarṣaiḥ patākābhis tathā sārathivājibhiḥ ||
rathaiś ca bhagnair nāgaiś ca hataiḥ kīrṇābhavan mahī ||
nihataiḥ kṣatriyaiḥ śūrair nānājanapadeśvaraiḥ ||
jayagṛddhair vṛtā bhūmir dāruṇā samapadyata ||
Arms with swords, with finger-guards, with pattishas and axes were seen severed, adorned with golden ornaments. With garlands, adornments, garments, and toppled great banners, with armor, shields, necklaces, diadems, parasols and fly-whisks; with wrecked chariot-bodies, platforms, shafts, poles and seats, with shattered axles, wheels broken in many places, with yokes, rear-axles, pennants, and with charioteers and horses, and with wrecked chariots, and with struck-down elephants the earth became covered. Covered with struck-down heroic kshatriyas, lords of various lands, thirsting for victory, the ground became terrible.
90ff31533e7e · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:03 PM UTC
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A long enumeration of the sundered — severed arms in gold, diadems, fly-whisks, wrecked chariots, the bodies of lords — reveals the utter collapse of order: everything the army was proud of is turned into a heap upon the earth. It is significant that "lords of various lands, thirsting for victory," lie mixed together with wreckage of harness — those who sought triumph found only death. The verse teaches that all the splendor and pride of an army are turned in a single hour into an earth strewn with wreckage; that those who sought victory found destruction, and their crowns lie tumbled beside broken axles; and that the tradition, piling up this mournful catalogue, wordlessly proclaims the vanity of all martial ambition — for those "thirsting for victory" made the earth only "terrible" with a heap of their own bodies and finery.