Shloka 49
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 29 — Arjuna’s defeat of Vṛṣaka–Acalā and the neutralization of Śakuni’s māyā
शरासनं शरांश्वैव गतासु: प्रमुमोच ह । शिरसस्तस्य विश्रष्टं पपात च वरांशुकम् । नालताडनविश्रष्टं पलाशं नलिनादिव,किरीट्धारी अर्जुनके द्वारा हृदय विदीर्ण कर दिये जानेपर राजा भगदत्तने प्राणशून्य हो अपने धनुष-बाण त्याग दिये। उनके सिरसे पगड़ी और पट्टीका वह सुन्दर वस्त्र खिसककर गिर गया, जैसे कमलनालके ताडनसे उसका पत्ता टूटकर गिर जाता है
sañjaya uvāca | śarāsanaṃ śarāṃś caiva gatāsuḥ pramumoca ha | śirasas tasya viśraṣṭaṃ papāta ca varāṃśukam | nālatāḍanaviśraṣṭaṃ palāśaṃ nalinād iva ||
Sañjaya said: When his life had departed, he let fall his bow and his arrows. From his head, his fine cloth slipped loose and dropped down—like a lotus leaf that breaks away and falls when the lotus-stalk is struck.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights impermanence and the leveling power of death in war: status, weapons, and adornments all fall away at life’s end. The lotus simile frames this as an inevitable collapse—suggesting that worldly supports are fragile when confronted by decisive action and fate.
Sañjaya describes a warrior who has died in battle: he drops his bow and arrows, and his fine head-cloth slips from his head and falls. The falling garment is compared to a lotus leaf dropping when the lotus-stalk is struck.