Shloka 29
कर्णपर्व — अध्याय ५७
Arjuna’s targeted advance; Śalya–Karṇa dialogue; interception attempts
विपाटितविचित्रांश्व॒ रूप्यचित्रान् कुथाड्कुशान् | भिन्नाश्न बहुधा घण्टा महद्धिः पतितैर्गजै:
vipāṭita-vicitrāṁś ca rūpya-citrān kuṭhāṅkuśān | bhinnāś ca bahudhā ghaṇṭā mahadbhis patitair gajaiḥ ||
Sañjaya sprach: „In Fetzen gerissen lagen die prächtigen Elefantenharnische — teils mit Silberarbeit verziert —, dazu Elefantenhaken und Äxte; und viele große Glocken, in zahllose Stücke zersprungen, waren über den Boden verstreut, gefallen mit den mächtigen Elefanten.“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of worldly splendor in war: ornate wealth and instruments of power (silver trappings, bells, goads) are reduced to fragments when life is cut down, highlighting impermanence and the cost of violence.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield aftermath: mighty elephants have fallen, and with them their decorated coverings and equipment—silver-worked ornaments, goads, axes, and bells—now torn and broken, strewn across the earth.