Shloka 543

Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 95 — Sātyaki’s Breakthrough and the Routing of Allied Contingents

Devanagari script

शेरते भूमिमासाद्य शैला वज़हता इव । विधिपूर्वक सुसज्जित किये गये हाथी सहस्रों बाणोंसे बिंधकर वज्रके मारे हुए पर्वतोंके समान धराशायी हो रहे थे

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | śerate bhūmim āsādya śailā vajrahatā iva | vidhipūrvaka-susajjitāḥ kṛtāḥ hastī sahasrāṇi bāṇaiḥ bibhidya vajra-māritāḥ parvatā iva dharāśāyī bhavanti |

Translation

Sañjaya said: Reaching the ground, they lay strewn about like mountains struck by a thunderbolt. Even the thousands of elephants—carefully arrayed and duly equipped according to rule—when pierced through by volleys of arrows, were collapsing to the earth like peaks shattered by Indra’s bolt.

Word by Word

• शेरते: lie down, rest
• Type: Verb
• Root: शी (धातु)
• Form: लट् (वर्तमान), आत्मनेपद, प्रथम, बहुवचन

• भूमिम्: the ground, earth
• भूमिम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूमि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• आसाद्य: having reached/approached
• Type: Verb
• Root: आ + सद् (धातु)
• Form: ल्यप् (क्त्वान्त/अव्ययीभाव-प्राय), कर्तरि, true

• शैलाḥ: mountains
• शैलाḥ: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: शैल (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• वज्रहताḥ: struck by a thunderbolt
• Type: Adjective
• Root: वज्र-हत (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• इव: like, as if
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव
• Form: true

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• संजय (Sañjaya)
• हस्ती/हस्तिनः (war-elephants)
• भूमि/धरा (earth)
• शैल/पर्वत (mountains)
• वज्र (vajra, thunderbolt—Indra’s weapon)
• बाण (arrows)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the fragility of power and preparation in the face of destructive violence: even disciplined, properly equipped forces (the elephants) are brought down. Ethically, it intensifies the Mahābhārata’s recurring reflection on the grievous cost of war and the suffering that accompanies the pursuit of victory.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the battlefield where thousands of war-elephants, though carefully arranged and armed, are pierced by arrows and collapse. Their fall is compared to mountains struck down by a thunderbolt, emphasizing the scale and shock of the carnage.