पत्त्यश्वरथनागैश् च प्रच्छन्नकृतसंक्रमाम् ॥
शरवर्षप्लवां घोरां केशशैवलशाड्वलाम् ॥
प्रावर्तयन् नदीम् उग्रां शोणितौघतरङ्गिणीम् ॥
शिरस्त्राणक्षुद्रमत्स्यां युगान्ते कालसंभृताम् ॥
अकरोद् गजसंबाधां नदीम् उत्तरशोणिताम् ॥
देहेभ्यो राजपुत्राणां नागाश्वरथसादिनाम् ॥
pattyaśvarathanāgaiś ca pracchannakṛtasaṃkramām ||
śaravarṣaplavāṃ ghorāṃ keśaśaivalaśāḍvalām ||
prāvartayan nadīm ugrāṃ śoṇitaughataraṅgiṇīm ||
śirastrāṇakṣudramatsyāṃ yugānte kālasaṃbhṛtām ||
akarod gajasaṃbādhāṃ nadīm uttaraśoṇitām ||
dehebhyo rājaputrāṇāṃ nāgāśvarathasādinām ||
With infantry, horses, chariots, elephants [for a ford], with a crossing secretly formed, terrible, with a downpour of arrows [instead of] a raft, with hair in place of waterweed and grass, with helmets in place of small fish, gathered by Time at the end of the age, crowded with elephants — [Arjuna] made a river flowing with blood.
13b67ea2cab8 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:45:02 PM UTC
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The elaborate image of a river of blood — an ancient motif (like the Vaitarani): hair as waterweed, helmets as little fish, bodies as a ford. 'Yugānte kālasaṃbhṛtām,' 'gathered by Time at the end of the age': behind the river of death stands Kala, Time itself. It is telling that the slaughter is likened to the cosmic flood at the world's end. The verse teaches us to see Time's working behind war: the river of blood is not the deed of one hand alone but a manifestation of Kala gathering his harvest at the 'end of the age'; and the horror of the carnage is written into a larger law, in which Time, not the warrior, is the true dispenser of death.