Shloka 60

Devanagari script

ततोडन्तरिक्षादपतद्‌ गतासु: सराक्षसेन्द्रो भुवि भिन्नदेह: । अवाक्‌शिरा: स्तब्धगात्रो विजिह्नो घटोत्कचो महदास्थाय रूपम्‌

Transliteration

tato 'nantarikṣād apatat gatāsuḥ sarākṣasendro bhuvi bhinnadehaḥ | avākśirāḥ stabdhagātro vijihno ghaṭotkaco mahad āsthāya rūpam ||

Translation

قال سنجيا: ثم إن غَطوتكچا، سيدَ الراكشسا—وقد فارقته الحياة وتفتّت جسده—سقط من السماء إلى الأرض. هوى منكّس الرأس، متيبّس الأطراف، مشوّه الهيئة؛ وتمدّد هناك وقد اتخذ صورةً هائلةً مروّعة.

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

अन्तरिक्षात्from the sky/mid-air

अपतत्fell down

गतासुःlifeless (whose life had gone)

स-राक्षस-इन्द्रःthe lord of the Rakshasas

भुविon the ground

भिन्न-देहःwith a shattered body

अवाक्-शिराःwith head hanging down

स्तब्ध-गात्रःwith rigid limbs

विजिह्नःtwisted/contorted

घटोत्कचःGhaṭotkaca

महत्great, huge

आस्थायhaving assumed/taken up

रूपम्form, appearance

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Ghaṭotkaca

Rākṣasas

antarikṣa (sky/mid-air)

bhūmi (earth)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the stark impermanence of embodied power: even a formidable warrior, celebrated for supernatural might, becomes lifeless in an instant. Ethically, it points to the grave consequences of warfare—victory and loss are inseparable from suffering, and martial glory culminates in mortality.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that Ghaṭotkaca, the leader among the Rākṣasas, has been slain and falls from the sky to the ground. His body is described as shattered, headlong, rigid, and distorted, and he appears in an enormous form as he collapses.