आसीत् केशपरामर्शो मुष्टियुद्धं च दारुणम् ॥
नखैर् दन्तैश् च शूराणम् अद्वीपे द्वीपम् इच्छताम् ॥
तत्राच्छिद्यत वीरस्य सखड्गो बाहुर् उद्यतः ॥
सधनुश् चापरस्यापि सशरः साङ्कुशस् तथा ॥
प्राक्रोशद् अन्यम् अन्यो ऽत्र तथान्यो विमुखो ऽद्रवत् ॥
अन्यः प्राप्तस्य चान्यस्य शिरः कायाद् अपाहरत् ॥
शब्दम् अभ्यद्रवच् चान्यः शब्दाद् अन्यो ऽद्रवद् भृशम् ॥
स्वान् अन्यो ऽथ परान् अन्यो जघान निशितैः शरैः ॥
āsīt keśaparāmarśo muṣṭiyuddhaṃ ca dāruṇam ||
nakhair dantaiś ca śūrāṇam advīpe dvīpam icchatām ||
tatrācchidyata vīrasya sakhaḍgo bāhur udyataḥ ||
sadhanuś cāparasyāpi saśaraḥ sāṅkuśas tathā ||
prākrośad anyam anyo 'tra tathānyo vimukho 'dravat ||
anyaḥ prāptasya cānyasya śiraḥ kāyād apāharat ||
śabdam abhyadravac cānyaḥ śabdād anyo 'dravad bhṛśam ||
svān anyo 'tha parān anyo jaghāna niśitaiḥ śaraiḥ ||
There was hair-pulling and fierce fist-fighting — with nails and teeth — among warriors seeking support where no support was to be found. There a warrior's raised arm was severed together with the sword; another's, together with bow and arrow; another's, together with the goad. One cried out to another, while another, turning away, fled; another carried off the head from the trunk of one who had approached him. One rushed toward a cry, while another fled headlong from the cry; one struck down his own men, another struck down strangers, with sharp arrows.
1a2350bf7914 · publicado 19 jul 2026, 15:22:09 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
When weapons are broken, battle sinks to the primeval — to nails and teeth, to pulling at hair: the warriors 'seek support where there is none.' In this image of drowning men without an island lies the despair of a battle stripped of all footing. And there is utter confusion: one runs toward the cry, another away from it; one strikes down his own, another strangers — order has vanished entirely. The verse teaches that war at its extremity lays bare the beast in man, reducing battle to teeth and nails; that in its chaos every foothold and every distinction is lost, and one's own strike down one's own; and that this spectacle is not heroism but disintegration: where weapons and formation fall away, it becomes plain how thin is the veil separating the 'order' of battle from blind mutual slaughter.