ते क्षत्रियाः कुण्डलिनो युवानः; परस्परं सायकविक्षताङ्गाः ॥
कुम्भेषु लीनाः सुषुपुर् गजानां; कुचेषु लग्ना इव कामिनीनाम् ॥
ततः कुमुदनाथेन कामिनीगण्डपाण्डुना ॥
नेत्रानन्देन चन्द्रेण माहेन्द्री दिग् अलंकृता ॥
ततो मुहूर्ताद् भगवान् पुरस्ताच् छशलक्षणः ॥
अरुणं दर्शयाम् आस ग्रसञ् ज्योतिःप्रभं प्रभुः ॥
अरुणस्य तु तस्यानु जातरूपसमप्रभम् ॥
रश्मिजालं महच् चन्द्रो मन्दं मन्दम् अवासृजत् ॥
te kṣatriyāḥ kuṇḍalino yuvānaḥ; parasparaṃ sāyakavikṣatāṅgāḥ ||
kumbheṣu līnāḥ suṣupur gajānāṃ; kuceṣu lagnā iva kāminīnām ||
tataḥ kumudanāthena kāminīgaṇḍapāṇḍunā ||
netrānandena candreṇa māhendrī dig alaṃkṛtā ||
tato muhūrtād bhagavān purastāc chaśalakṣaṇaḥ ||
aruṇaṃ darśayām āsa grasañ jyotiḥprabhaṃ prabhuḥ ||
aruṇasya tu tasyānu jātarūpasamaprabham ||
raśmijālaṃ mahac candro mandaṃ mandam avāsṛjat ||
Those kshatriyas, wearing earrings, young, their bodies wounded by one another's arrows, slept nestled against the frontal bosses of elephants, as though nestled against the breasts of beloved women. Then the eastern quarter was adorned by the lord of the white lotuses, pale as the cheek of a beloved woman, the moon, delight of the eyes. Then, after a moment, the lord in the east, the hare-marked [moon], revealed Aruna [the red dawn], the lord swallowing up the brightness of the stars. And following upon that dawn, the moon slowly, slowly released a great net of rays, radiant as gold.
199328f41981 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:58:11 PM UTC
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The wounded young men sleep on the foreheads of elephants ‘as on the breasts of beloved women’: the epic finds tenderness at the very heart of war. The comparison of the moon to the cheek of a beloved woman is significant — peace and beauty descend upon a field of death. The verse teaches that even amid the horror of war a longing for tenderness and repose lives on; and the rising of the moon, delight of the eyes, over the sleeping battlefield reveals that the beauty of the world is not annulled by war, only eclipsed by it for a time.