Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 14

अध्याय ३: कृपस्य दुर्योधनं प्रति नीत्युपदेशः

Kṛpa’s Counsel to Duryodhana

Devanagari script

हतारोहास्तथा नागाश्छिन्नहस्तास्तथापरे

Transliteration

hatārohās tathā nāgāś chinnahastās tathāpare

Translation

Sañjaya said: “There were elephants whose riders had been slain, and other elephants too were seen with their hands (trunks/forelimbs) cut off.”

Word by Word

• हतारोहाः: those whose riders are slain (riderless)
• हतारोहाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: हतारोह (हत + आरोह)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• तथा: thus/also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• नागाः: elephants
• नागाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नाग
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• छिन्नहस्ताः: with severed hands/trunks
• छिन्नहस्ताः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: छिन्नहस्त (छिन्न + हस्त)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• तथा: and also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• अपरे: others
• अपरे: Karta
• Type: Pronoun/Adjective
• Root: अपर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• nāgāḥ (war-elephants)
• āroha (riders/mahouts)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the catastrophic suffering produced by war: even powerful instruments of battle—war-elephants and their riders—are destroyed or maimed. Ethically, it functions as a stark reminder that victory pursued through violence carries immense collateral pain and loss.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya is describing the battlefield scene in the Śalya Parva: elephants are left riderless because their mounted warriors/mahouts have been killed, and other elephants are grievously mutilated, conveying the intensity and horror of the fighting.