Shloka 213
कुलसत्त्ववलोपेता वाजिनो वारणोपमा: । रथोंके पहिये रक्तकी कीचमें डूब जाते थे, तो भी उन रथोंको बाणोंसे पीड़ित हो काँपते हुए और परिश्रमसे थके-माँदे घोड़े किसी प्रकार धैर्य धारण करके ढोते थे। वे सभी घोड़े उत्तम कुल, साहस और बलसे सम्पन्न तथा हाथियोंके समान विशालकाय थे (इसीलिये ऐसा पराक्रम कर पाते थे)
kulasattvabalopetā vājinō vāraṇopamāḥ | rathānāṃ cakrāṇi raktapaṅke nimagnāni santi, tathāpi te bāṇapīḍitāḥ kampamānāḥ pariśramāt klāntāś ca aśvāḥ kathaṃcid dhairyam ālambya tān rathān vahanti | te sarve aśvāḥ uttamakulajāḥ sāhasabalasampannāś ca gajopamā mahākāyāḥ |
Sañjaya said: The horses—of noble lineage, courage, and strength, and huge as elephants—kept hauling the chariots even when the wheels sank into the blood-mire. Though tormented by arrows, trembling and exhausted from toil, they somehow held fast and bore the burden onward.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights steadfast endurance (dhairya) amid extreme adversity, while also implicitly exposing the ethical cost of war: suffering extends beyond combatants to animals and the environment, making the battlefield a place of shared pain rather than glory alone.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield where chariot wheels sink into a mire of blood; despite being wounded by arrows and exhausted, the massive war-horses continue to pull the chariots through sheer fortitude.