Shloka 70
पातयन् रथिनो राजन् हयांश्व सहसादिभि: । मुण्डतालवनानीव चकार स रथव्रजान्,राजन! रथियोंको गिराकर और सवारोंसहित घोड़ोंको मारकर उन्होंने रथोंके समुदायको मुण्डित ताड़वनके समान कर दिया
pātayan rathino rājan hayāṁś ca sahasādibhiḥ | muṇḍatālavanānīva cakāra sa rathavrajān ||
Sañjaya said: “O King, felling the chariot-warriors and swiftly striking down the horses along with their riders and attendants, he reduced the massed chariots to the look of a shorn palm-grove—stripped and broken in the fury of battle.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse does not offer a direct moral injunction; it exemplifies the epic’s portrayal of kṣatriya warfare where prowess and tactical destruction are narrated with vivid imagery. Ethically, it underscores the grim cost of conflict—how quickly martial power can strip an army bare, like a grove shorn of its crowns.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a powerful warrior is cutting down chariot-fighters and killing the horses with their riders/attendants, leaving the assembled chariots devastated—compared to a palm-forest that has been lopped and made bare.