Shloka 44

कर्णपर्व — पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः | Karṇa Parva, Chapter 15: Pāṇḍya’s Advance and Aśvatthāmā’s Counterstroke

Devanagari script

पश्चात्तु शैलवत्‌ पेतुस्ते गजा: सह सादिभि: । वज्िवज्रप्रमथिता यथैवाद्रिचयास्तथा

Transliteration

paścāt tu śailavat petus te gajāḥ saha sādibhiḥ | vajravajrapramathitā yathaivādricayās tathā ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: After their trunks had been severed, those elephants, along with their riders, collapsed like mountains. They fell as if they were heaps of hills split and shattered by Indra’s thunderbolt.

Word by Word

• पश्चात्: afterwards
• पश्चात्: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पश्चात्

• तु: but/indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• शैलवत्: like a mountain
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: शैलवत्

• पेतुः: fell
• Type: Verb
• Root: पत्
• Form: Perfect (Liṭ), 3, Plural, Parasmaipada

• ते: those
• ते: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• गजाः: elephants
• गजाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: गज
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• सह: together with
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सह

• सादिभिः: with riders/horsemen (mounted men)
• सादिभिः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सादि
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• वज्रिवज्रप्रमथिताः: crushed/smitten by the thunderbolt of the thunderbolt-bearer (Indra)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: वज्रि-वज्र-प्रमथित
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• यथा: as/just as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• एव: indeed/just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• अद्रिचयाः: heaps/masses of mountains
• अद्रिचयाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अद्रिचय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• तथा: so/thus
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• elephants (gajāḥ)
• elephant riders (sādibhiḥ)
• Indra
• vajra (thunderbolt)
• mountains/hills (śaila/adri)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the catastrophic, indiscriminate destructiveness of war: even the strongest beings (war-elephants) and their human riders are brought down suddenly. The Indra-vajra simile heightens the sense that battlefield force can resemble a cosmic calamity, inviting reflection on the ethical cost of violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a moment in the battle where elephants, after suffering grievous injury (trunks severed), collapse with their riders. Their fall is compared to mountain-heaps shattered by Indra’s thunderbolt, emphasizing the scale and terror of the carnage.