Shloka 99

Devanagari script

ते भग्ना: प्रपतन्ति सम निध्नन्तश्न॒ परस्परम्‌

Transliteration

te bhagnāḥ prapatanti sma nighnantas tu parasparam

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: Zerschlagen und in die Flucht getrieben, stürzten sie immer wieder kopfüber, rissen einander im Chaos zu Boden—ein Bild des moralischen Zusammenbruchs im Krieg, wenn Furcht und Verwirrung Gefährten zu gegenseitigen Vernichtern machen.

Word by Word

• ते: they (those)
• ते: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• भग्नाः: broken, routed
• भग्नाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: भग्न (√भञ्ज्)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• प्रपतन्ति: fall down, tumble, rush down
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र√पत्
• Form: Present, Third, Plural, Parasmaipada

• सम्: together, completely (as a preverb)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सम्

• निघ्नन्तः: striking, killing
• निघ्नन्तः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: नि√हन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural, शतृ (present active participle)

• परस्परम्: one another, mutually
• परस्परम्: Karma
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: परस्पर

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• संजय (Sañjaya)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how warfare, once it descends into panic and disorder, erodes discernment and solidarity; ethical restraint collapses and violence becomes indiscriminate, even turning inward among one’s own side.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes routed fighters who, in confusion, fall and strike each other—depicting a scene of disarray where the defeated are not merely fleeing but are caught in mutual, chaotic violence.