Shloka 3536
Chapter 12: Arjuna’s suppression of the Saṃśaptakas and duel with Aśvatthāmā
Drauṇi
निपपात महेष्वासो वज्जाहत इवाचल: । राजन! इस प्रकार महायुद्धमें दो टुकड़ोंमें कटा हुआ कवचसहित महाथनुर्धर केकयराज वच्जके मारे हुए पर्वतके समान गिर पड़ा
nipapāta maheṣvāso vajrāhata ivācalaḥ | rājan! iti prakāraṃ mahāyuddhe dvi-ṭukḍeṣu chinnaḥ kavaca-sahitaḥ mahā-dhanurdharaḥ kekaya-rājaḥ vajrake māritaḥ parvata iva nipapāta |
Sañjaya said: “O King, thus in that great battle the mighty archer—the Kekaya king—fell, still clad in armor, cut into two pieces, like a mountain struck down by a thunderbolt.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the stark impermanence of martial glory: even a heavily armored, renowned archer can be destroyed in an instant. Ethically, it functions as a sobering reminder of the cost of war and the fragility of embodied power, even when exercised under the banner of kṣatriya-dharma.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that, amid the great battle, the Kekaya king—an eminent bowman—has been cut into two and falls to the ground, compared to a mountain felled by a thunderbolt.