Shloka 7
Jayadratha-rakṣā: Conch Signals and Encirclement of Arjuna
Chapter 79
यो<न्वास्यत पुरा वीरो वरस्त्रीभिर्महाभुज: । कथमन्वास्यते सो5द्य शिवाभि: पतितो मृथे,“जिस महाबाहु वीरके पास पहले सुन्दरी स्त्रियाँ बैठा करती थीं, वही आज युद्धभूमिमें पड़ा होगा और उसके आस-पास सियारिनें बैठी होंगी; यह सब कैसे सम्भव हुआ?”
yo 'nvāsyata purā vīro varastrībhiḥ mahābhujaḥ | katham anvāsyate so 'dya śivābhiḥ patito mṛdhe ||
Sañjaya said: “That mighty-armed hero, whom in former days noble and beautiful women used to sit beside in attendance—how is it that today, fallen on the battlefield, he is attended instead by she-jackals? How could such a reversal come to pass?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of worldly splendor and status: the same warrior once surrounded by honor and refined company can, through the harsh law of war and time, end up abandoned on the battlefield amid scavengers. It evokes ethical reflection on the cost of violence and the impermanence of power.
Sañjaya, reporting the events of the war, laments a fallen hero. He contrasts the hero’s former life of honor—attended by noble women—with the grim present, where the body lies in battle and is surrounded by she-jackals, expressing shock at the reversal brought by combat.