Shloka 25
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Discourse and the Elephant-Corps Engagement (भीमगजानीक-सम्भ्रान्ति)
हतमात्मसुतं दृष्टवा कलिड्रानां जनाधिप:
hatam ātmasutaṃ dṛṣṭvā kaliḍrāṇāṃ janādhipaḥ
Sañjaya said: “Seeing his own son slain, the ruler of the Kaliḍras was struck by grief and shock—an image of how war turns even kings into mourners, and how attachment to one’s own becomes a source of anguish amid the collapse of duty and order on the battlefield.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the human cost of war: even those who uphold martial duty are not spared the suffering born of attachment and loss. It implicitly contrasts the ideals of kṣatriya-dharma with the emotional devastation that battle inevitably brings.
Sañjaya describes a battlefield moment in which the king of the Kaliḍras sees his own son killed, marking a turn from command and valor to grief and disorientation amid the ongoing conflict.