Shloka 366

Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 20 — Yudhiṣṭhira–Duryodhana Encounter and Escalation of Arms

Devanagari script

सपताकाध्वजा: पेतुर्विशीर्णा इव पर्वता: । घुड़सवारोंने कितने ही शूरवीरोंको मार डाला और बड़े-बड़े दन्तार हाथियोंकी सूँड़ें काट लीं। सूँड़ कट जानेपर उन हाथियोंने युद्धस्थलमें बहुत-से मनुष्यों

Transliteration

sa-patākā-dhvajāḥ petur viśīrṇā iva parvatāḥ |

Translation

Sañjaya said: Standards and banners fell, as if shattered mountains were collapsing. In the press of battle, mounted warriors slew many heroes and severed the trunks of great tusked elephants. Once their trunks were cut, those elephants, maddened by pain, trampled down many men, elephants, chariots, and horses across the field; then, bearing broken flags and standards, they too crashed to the earth like mountains broken apart—an image of war’s blind momentum, where violence rebounds upon all sides and the mighty become instruments of indiscriminate ruin.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'सपताकाध्वजाः (sa-patākā-dhvajāḥ)', 'definition': 'bearing flags and standards

• with banners'}, {'term': 'पेतुः (petuḥ)', 'definition': 'fell down

• collapsed (perfect/preterite plural)'}, {'term': 'विशीर्णाः (viśīrṇāḥ)', 'definition': 'shattered, broken to pieces'}, {'term': 'इव (iva)', 'definition': 'like, as if (simile marker)'}, {'term': 'पर्वताः (parvatāḥ)', 'definition': 'mountains'}, {'term': 'ध्वज (dhvaja)', 'definition': 'standard, banner (often on chariots/armies)'}, {'term': 'पताका (patākā)', 'definition': 'flag, pennant'}]

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• संजय (Sañjaya)
• पताका (flags)
• ध्वज (standards/banners)
• पर्वत (mountains, as simile)
• हस्तिन्/गज (elephants, implied by context)
• अश्वारोही (horsemen, per Hindi gloss)
• रथ (chariots, per Hindi gloss)
• अश्व (horses, per Hindi gloss)
• युद्धभूमि (battlefield, per Hindi gloss)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the ethical tragedy of war: once violence escalates, it becomes indiscriminate. Even the strongest—elephants and celebrated warriors—turn into agents of uncontrolled destruction, and symbols of glory (flags, standards) end in collapse, highlighting the fragility of martial pride and the heavy cost borne by all.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a chaotic battlefield scene: banners and standards topple; horsemen kill many fighters and sever elephants’ trunks; the wounded elephants, driven mad, trample soldiers, animals, chariots, and horses; finally, those elephants fall to the ground with broken flags, likened to shattered mountains.