Shloka 30
Śakuntalā’s Satya-Discourse and the Recognition of Bharata (शकुन्तला–सत्योपदेशः; भरतप्रतिग्रहः)
संकोच्याग्रकरान् भीता: प्रद्रवन्ति सम वेगिता: । शकृन्मूत्रं सृजन्तश्च क्षरन्तः शोणितं बहु,वहाँ कितने ही व्याप्र-स्वभावके नृशंस जंगली मनुष्य भूखे होनेके कारण कुछ मृगोंको कच्चे ही चबा गये। कितने ही वनमें विचरनेवाले व्याध वहाँ आग जलाकर मांस पकानेकी अपनी रीतिके अनुसार मांसको कूट-कूटकर राँधने और खाने लगे। उस वनमें कितने ही बलवान् और मतवाले हाथी अस्त्र-शस्त्रोंके आघातसे क्षत-विक्षत होकर सूँड़को समेटे हुए भयके मारे वेगपूर्वक भाग रहे थे। उस समय उनके घावोंसे बहुत-सा रक्त बह रहा था और वे मल-मूत्र करते जाते थे
saṅkocyāgrakarān bhītāḥ pradravanti sama-vegītāḥ | śakṛn-mūtraṃ sṛjantaś ca kṣarantaḥ śoṇitaṃ bahu ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Terrified, they drew in their foreparts (their trunks) and fled at equal speed. As they ran, they voided dung and urine, and from their wounds much blood streamed forth—an image of the forest’s violence and the pitiless consequences of armed assault upon living beings.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark karmic and ethical cost of violence: when living beings are struck by weapons, the immediate fruits are terror, loss of bodily control, and grievous suffering—an implicit warning against nṛśaṃsatā (pitiless cruelty).
In the midst of a violent forest episode, wounded elephants—struck by weapons—panic and flee, drawing in their trunks; as they run, they involuntarily void excrement and urine while bleeding profusely from their injuries.