Shloka 14
कर्णपर्व — पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः | Karṇa Parva, Chapter 15: Pāṇḍya’s Advance and Aśvatthāmā’s Counterstroke
विध्वस्तायुधतूणीरान् समुन्मथितकेतनान् | संछिन्नयोक्त्ररश्मीकान् विवरूथान् विकूबरान्
vidhvastāyudhatūṇīrān samunmathitaketanān | saṁchinnayoktrarasmīkān vivarūthān vikūbarān
Sañjaya said: “I saw chariots whose weapons and quivers were shattered, whose banners had been violently torn away, whose yokes and reins were cut through—chariots left without proper coverings and with their poles and fittings broken.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war dismantles the very structures meant to uphold controlled, rule-bound combat—when weapons, reins, and standards are destroyed, disciplined action gives way to disorder, revealing the ethical cost and fragility of martial order.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the battlefield scene: chariots are seen wrecked—armaments and quivers shattered, banners torn, and the yokes and reins severed—showing the intensity of the fighting in the Karṇa Parva.