Shloka 39
त्रिपुरदाह-इतिहासः
Tripura-destruction exemplum and counsel to Śalya
तच्छित्त्वा सगुणं चापं रणे तस्य महात्मन: । पपात धरणी तूर्ण स्वर्णवज्विभूषितम्,वह स्वर्ण और हीरेसे विभूषित कटा हुआ खड्ग रणभूमिमें महामना शकुनिके धनुषको प्रत्यंचासहित काटकर तुरंत ही पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़ा
tac chittvā saguṇaṃ cāpaṃ raṇe tasya mahātmanaḥ | papāta dharaṇīṃ tūrṇaṃ svarṇavajrāvibhūṣitam ||
Sañjaya said: Having cut in battle the great-souled warrior’s bow together with its string, the gold-and-diamond-adorned weapon fell swiftly to the ground. The moment marks a decisive turn in the duel: the stripping away of a fighter’s means of combat, exposing vulnerability amid the relentless ethics of kṣatriya warfare where skill and fate collide.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a battlefield ethic central to kṣatriya-dharma: prowess can abruptly remove an opponent’s capacity to fight, revealing how honor, vulnerability, and destiny operate within the harsh moral economy of war.
In Sañjaya’s report, a warrior’s bow is cut along with its string, and the richly ornamented weapon drops immediately to the ground—signaling a sudden disadvantage and a shift in the duel’s momentum.