Shloka 89
अध्याय १४८ — कर्णप्रभावः, धृष्टद्युम्नस्य विरथता, तथा घटोत्कच-आह्वानम्
Chapter 148: Karṇa’s Pressure, Dhṛṣṭadyumna Unhorsed, and the Summoning of Ghaṭotkaca
मत्ता वेगवतो राजंस्तावकानां रणाड्रणे,राजन! जिनके सवार मार डाले गये थे और समस्त अंग बाणोंसे विदीर्ण हो रहे थे, वे आपके योद्धाओंके वेगवान् और मदमत्त सहस्रों हाथी समरभूमिमें अपनी ही सेनाओंको रौंदते और आर्तनाद करते हुए जोर-जोरसे भागने लगे
mattā vegavato rājan tāvakānāṁ raṇādr̥ṇe | rājann yeṣāṁ savārā mārā dalitāś ca sarvāṅgāni bāṇair vidīryamāṇāni | te tava yoddhānāṁ vegavanto madamattāḥ sahasraśo hastinaḥ samarabhūmau svām eva senāṁ rundānās tathā ārta-nādaṁ kurvāṇāḥ uccair uccair apāyānta ||
Sañjaya said: O King, in the tumult of battle, your swift, rut-maddened elephants—whose riders had been slain and whose bodies were being torn on all sides by arrows—began to flee in panic. Trampling their own ranks and crying out in distress, they rushed away loudly across the battlefield, turning their strength into ruin for their own side.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how violence and loss of control in war rebound upon one’s own side: when leadership (riders) is destroyed, even great power (elephants) becomes blind panic, causing harm to allies and multiplying suffering.
Sañjaya reports to the king that the Kauravas’ war elephants, maddened and wounded by arrows and bereft of their riders, lose direction and flee, crushing their own troops while roaring in distress.