Shloka 41
Droṇa’s Renewed Advance toward Yudhiṣṭhira; Fall of Satyajit and Allied Recoil (द्रोणस्य युधिष्ठिरप्रेप्सा—सत्यजितः पतनम्)
तेषामाहन्यमानानां बाणतोमरऋष्टिभि: । वारणानां रवो जज्ञे मेघानामिव सम्प्लवे,बाण, तोमर तथा ऋष्टि आदि अस्त्र-शस्त्रोंसे मारे जाते हुए गजराजोंका चीत्कार प्रलयकालके मेघोंकी गर्जनाके समान जान पड़ता था
teṣām āhanyamānānāṃ bāṇa-tomara-ṛṣṭibhiḥ | vāraṇānāṃ ravo jajñe meghānām iva samplave ||
Sañjaya said: As those elephants were being struck down by arrows, javelins, and spears, their cries rose like the thunder of clouds at the time of cosmic dissolution—an ominous roar that marked the battlefield’s plunge into overwhelming ruin.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the immense cost of war: even mighty war-elephants become victims, and their suffering is portrayed with apocalyptic imagery. Ethically, it heightens the sense that battle, though undertaken under claims of duty, unleashes devastation that resembles a world-ending storm.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield where elephants are being struck by missiles—arrows, javelins, and spears. Their loud cries rise and spread, compared to the thunder of clouds during a catastrophic deluge, intensifying the scene’s terror and scale.