Shloka 29
कर्णार्जुनयुद्ध-प्रवृत्तिः
Renewal of the Karṇa–Arjuna Engagement at Day’s End
जैसे वज्रोंकी वर्षासे पर्वत ढह जाते हैं, उसी प्रकार पाण्डव-सैनिकरूपी बादलोंद्वारा की हुई बाणोंकी वृष्टिसे आहत हो शत्रुओंके हाथीरूपी पर्वत धराशायी हो गये ।। एवं हत्वा तव गजांस्ते पाण्डुरथकुञ्जरा: । द्रुतां सेनामवैक्षन्त भिन्नकूलामिवापगाम्
evaṁ hatvā tava gajāṁs te pāṇḍu-ratha-kuñjarāḥ | drutāṁ senām avaikṣanta bhinna-kūlām ivāpagām ||
Sañjaya said: After slaying your elephants, those mighty warriors of the Pāṇḍavas—like elephants yoked to pale chariots in their force—looked upon your army as it broke and fled, like a river whose banks have been shattered. The image underscores how, in war, even the proudest strength (elephant-corps) collapses when struck by concentrated skill and resolve, and how a host without cohesion loses its moral and strategic footing alike.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the fragility of military might when cohesion and morale collapse: once the elephant corps is destroyed, the army’s confidence breaks, and the force disperses like a river after its banks are breached—suggesting that power without stability and discipline quickly becomes ruin.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the Pāṇḍava fighters have killed the Kauravas’ war-elephants; seeing this, the Kaurava army is viewed as fleeing and disintegrating, compared to a river whose banks have broken.