Shloka 44
Bhīmasena’s Kalinga Engagement and the Approach of Bhīṣma (भीमसेन-कालिङ्ग-संग्रामः)
निष्कूजा: समपद्यन्त दृढसत्त्वा महाबला: । धैर्यको दृढ़तापूर्वक धारण किये रहनेवाले दूसरे महाबली वीर बाणोंके आघातसे पीड़ित हो क्लेश सहन करते हुए भी मौन ही रहते थे--अपनी वेदना प्रकाशित नहीं करते थे ।। ४३ कक . अन्ये च विरथा: शूरा रथमन्यस्य संयुगे,महाराज! कुछ वीर पुरुष अपना रथ भग्न हो जानेके कारण युद्धमें पृथ्वीपर गिरकर दूसरेका रथ माँग रहे थे, इतनेहीमें बड़े-बड़े हाथियोंके पैरोंसे वे कुचल गये। उस समय उनके रक्तरंजित शरीर फूले हुए पलाशके समान शोभा पा रहे थे
sañjaya uvāca | niṣkūjāḥ samapadyanta dṛḍhasattvā mahābalāḥ | anye ca virathāḥ śūrā ratham anyasya saṃyuge mahārāja |
Sañjaya said: Mighty warriors of steadfast spirit endured the blows in silence, not crying out even when struck by arrows. Others—brave men whose chariots had been shattered—fell to the ground in the thick of battle and called for another’s chariot; but before they could be rescued, they were crushed under the feet of great elephants. Their blood-smeared bodies, swollen and torn, appeared like blossoming palāśa flowers.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights endurance and restraint under suffering as a warriorly virtue, while simultaneously exposing the brutal, indiscriminate destruction of war—suggesting that even dutiful courage (kṣatriya-dharma) unfolds within a tragic moral landscape.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield: some powerful fighters bear arrow-wounds without crying out, while others whose chariots are destroyed fall and seek another chariot but are trampled by elephants; their bloodied bodies are compared to palāśa blossoms.