Shloka 20

Devanagari script

यथा नलवन क्रुद्धः प्रभिन्न: षष्टिहायन: । मृदनीयात्‌ तद्वदायस्त: पार्थो5मृद्नाच्चमूं तव,जैसे साठ वर्षका मदस्रावी हाथी क्रोधमें भरकर नरकुलोंके जंगलको रौंदकर धूलमें मिला देता है, उसी प्रकार प्रयत्नशील पार्थने आपकी सेनाको मटियामेट कर दिया

Transliteration

yathā nalavana-kruddhaḥ prabhinnaḥ ṣaṣṭihāyanaḥ | mṛdanīyāt tadvad āyastaḥ pārtho 'mṛdnāc camūṃ tava ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: “Just as a sixty-year-old elephant, in musth and enraged, tramples a thicket of reeds and crushes it into dust, so did Pārtha—striving with relentless effort—grind down your army.”

Word by Word

यथाjust as

नलवनम्a reed-thicket/forest of reeds

क्रुद्धःangry

प्रभिन्नःin musth; rutting (elephant)

षष्टिहायनःsixty-years-old

मृदनीयात्would crush/trample

तद्वत्so; in the same way

आयस्तःstriving; exerting effort

पार्थःPartha (Arjuna)

अमृद्नात्crushed; trampled; destroyed

चमूम्army

तवyour

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Pārtha (Arjuna)

tava camū (the Kaurava army)

elephant (prabhinna ṣaṣṭihāyana)

nalavana (reed-thicket)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how unchecked martial force can become irresistible—like a musth elephant—once battle is fully joined. Ethically, it points to the grave consequences of provoking a dharmic conflict: when war is set in motion, even rightful prowess results in vast destruction that cannot be easily contained.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Arjuna (Pārtha), exerting himself intensely, has devastated the Kaurava forces. The comparison to an enraged, musth elephant trampling a reed-grove conveys the speed and inevitability with which Arjuna breaks through the opposing ranks.