Shloka 17
रथी नागं समासाद्य दारयन् निशितै: शरै: । प्रेषयामास कालाय शरै: संनतपर्वभि:,रथी हाथीका सामना करके झुकी हुई गाँठवाले तीखे बाणोंद्वारा उसे विदीर्ण करते हुए कालके गालमें भेजने लगे
rathī nāgaṃ samāsādya dārayan niśitaiḥ śaraiḥ | preṣayāmāsa kālāya śaraiḥ saṃnataparvabhiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: The chariot-warrior closed in upon the elephant and, rending it with razor-sharp arrows—arrows whose joints were bent—kept sending it into the very jaws of Death.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the stark reality of war: prowess and resolve can swiftly turn into an instrument of Kāla (death/time). Ethically, it invites reflection on how violence, even when performed as kṣatriya-duty, carries an inescapable gravity—life is ‘sent to Death’ by human action within the larger current of fate.
Sañjaya describes a chariot-warrior advancing on an elephant and piercing it with very sharp arrows, described as having bent joints (saṃnata-parva). The elephant is being mortally wounded—figuratively ‘dispatched to Kāla,’ i.e., killed in battle.