Shloka 41
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Discourse and the Elephant-Corps Engagement (भीमगजानीक-सम्भ्रान्ति)
छिन्नस्कन्ध: स विनदन् पपात गजयूथप: । आरुग्ण: सिन्धुवेगेन सानुमानिव पर्वत:,कंधा कट जानेसे वह गजयूथपति चिग्घाड़ता हुआ समुद्रके वेगसे भग्न होकर गिरनेवाले शिखरयुक्त पर्वतके समान धराशायी हो गया
chinnaskandhaḥ sa vinadan papāta gajayūthapaḥ | ārugṇaḥ sindhuvegena sānumān iva parvataḥ ||
Sañjaya said: With his shoulder-trunk severed, the leader of the elephant-herd fell, crying out—shattered as though by the rush of the sea, like a mountain with its peaks that collapses when its ridges are broken. The image underscores the terrible momentum of battle, where even the mightiest living bulwarks are brought down in an instant.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the fragility of embodied power in war: even a formidable force like an elephant-chief can be felled instantly. It reinforces the Mahābhārata’s recurring ethical tension—martial prowess and massed might do not guarantee security, and violence rapidly reduces living strength to ruin.
Sañjaya describes an elephant-herd leader whose shoulder-trunk has been cut; it trumpets and collapses. The fall is compared to a peak-bearing mountain broken and brought down by the ocean’s rushing force, intensifying the scene’s scale and devastation.