Shloka 13
Pāṇḍya-vadha-anantaram Arjunasya Pravṛttiḥ
Arjuna’s Response and the Renewed Battle
तेषां द्विपानां निचकर्त पार्थी वर्माणि चर्माणि करान् नियन्तृन् । ध्वजान् पताकांश्व ततः प्रपेतु- वजाहतानीव गिरे: शिरांसि
teṣāṁ dvipānāṁ nicakarta pārthī varmāṇi carmāṇi karān niyantṝn | dhvajān patākāṁś ca tataḥ prapetuḥ vajrāhatānīva gireḥ śirāṁsi ||
Sañjaya said: Pārtha (Arjuna) hewed down the armour and hides of those war-elephants—their trunks and their drivers as well—and cut down their standards and banners. Thereupon they crashed to the earth like mountain-peaks shattered by a thunderbolt.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the epic’s battlefield ethic: a kṣatriya hero acts with focused skill to neutralize the enemy’s instruments of war (elephants, drivers, standards). It reflects dharma-yuddha as disciplined, goal-directed combat, even while acknowledging the harsh reality of violence.
Sañjaya narrates that Arjuna systematically disables a group of enemy war-elephants—cutting their protective gear, trunks, and drivers, and bringing down their flags and banners—so that they topple to the ground like mountain summits shattered by a thunderbolt.