Shloka 503
धृतराष्ट्र–संजय संवादः: कर्ण–घटोत्कचयोर्निशायुद्धवर्णनम्
Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Sañjaya Dialogue: Description of the Night Engagement of Karṇa and Ghaṭotkaca
तांक्ष बाणहतान् वीर पश्य निष्टनत: क्षितौ । वीर! देखो, से पर्वतशिखरके समान प्रतीत होनेवाले ऐरावत-जैसे हाथी शस्त्रोंद्वारा बने हुए घावोंके छिद्रसे उसी प्रकार अधिकाधिक रक्तकी धारा बहा रहे हैं, जैसे पर्वत अपनी कन्दराओंके मुखसे गेरुमिश्रित जलके झरने बहाया करते हैं। वे बाणोंसे मारे जाकर धरतीपर लोट रहे हैं
tān kṣa bāṇahatān vīra paśya niṣṭanataḥ kṣitau |
Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: “Look, O hero—see those elephants, struck down by arrows, writhing and groaning upon the earth. Their bodies, towering like mountain-peaks and resembling Airāvata, pour forth ever-greater streams of blood from weapon-made wounds, as mountains send out reddish, ochre-tinged waters from the mouths of their caves. Thus, pierced by arrows, they roll on the ground.”
श्रीकृष्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark cost of war: even the mightiest beings fall when violence escalates. In dharmic reflection, it presses the listener to recognize suffering clearly—so that duty (kṣatriya action) is not romanticized, and ethical awareness remains awake amid necessity.
Kṛṣṇa directs a warrior’s attention to the battlefield: elephants, huge like mountain-peaks, have been pierced by arrows and are collapsing, groaning, and bleeding heavily. The poet heightens the scene through a simile comparing their blood-flow to red-tinged mountain springs issuing from caves.