Shloka 59
Śalya’s Objection to Sārathya and Duryodhana’s Conciliation (शल्यमन्यु-प्रशमनम् / Sārathyāṅgīkāra)
दावाग्निपरिदग्धाड़ा यथैव स्युर्महावने । बहुत-से मतवाले हाथी वहाँ बड़ी घबराहटमें पड़कर इधर-उधर चक्कर काट रहे थे, मानो किसी बड़े भारी जंगलमें दावानलसे उनके सारे अंग झुलस गये हों ।। ५८ ई ।। भिन्नकुम्भाद्ररुधिराश्छिन्नहस्ताश्च॒ वारणा:,कितने ही हाथियोंके कुम्भस्थल फट गये थे और वे खूनसे भींग गये थे। कितनोंकी सूँड़ें कट गयी थीं, कितनोंके कवच छित्न-भिन्न हो गये थे, बहुतोंकी पूँछें कट गयी थीं और कितने ही हाथी महामना कर्णकी मार खाकर खण्डित हुए मेघोंके समान पृथ्वीपर गिर गये थे
sañjaya uvāca | dāvāgniparidagdhāḍā yathaiva syur mahāvane | bhinnakumbhādrarudhirāś chinnahastāś ca vāraṇāḥ |
Sañjaya said: “Just as elephants in a vast forest, scorched by a raging wildfire, would reel about in panic, so did many maddened elephants there whirl and stagger in confusion. Some had their frontal globes split and were drenched in blood; some had their trunks severed; some had their armor torn to pieces; many had their tails cut off. Struck down by the mighty Karṇa, numerous elephants fell upon the earth like shattered clouds.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the catastrophic cost of war: even the mightiest creatures and the most splendid martial resources are reduced to panic and ruin. It implicitly warns that martial glory is inseparable from widespread suffering, inviting ethical reflection on violence and its consequences.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield where many elephants, maddened and terrified, stagger like wildfire-scorched elephants in a forest. They are grievously wounded—temples split, trunks severed, armor torn—and many collapse to the ground after being struck by Karṇa.