Shloka 276
कर्णपर्व — अध्याय ५७
Arjuna’s targeted advance; Śalya–Karṇa dialogue; interception attempts
वैजयन्तीर्विचित्राश्ष हतांक्ष गजवाजिन: । “जिनकी जीभें बाहर निकल आयी हैं, ऐसे अगणित पर्वताकार हाथी धरतीपर सदाके लिये सो गये हैं। विचित्र वैजयन्ती पताकाएँ खण्डित होकर पड़ी हैं तथा हाथी और घोड़े मारे गये हैं
vaijayantīr vicitrāś ca hatāṃś ca gajavājinaḥ |
Sañjaya said: Variegated vaijayantī banners lay shattered, and elephants and horses had been slain—signs of the battlefield’s ruin, where the pride of armies collapses and the cost of violence becomes unmistakable.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical gravity of war: even ‘victory’ symbols like banners end up broken, and the might of armies (elephants and horses) lies destroyed—highlighting impermanence and the human responsibility to weigh violence against dharma.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the battlefield scene: ornate victory-standards are scattered and shattered, and the war-mounts—elephants and horses—have been killed, conveying the scale of carnage in the Karṇa Parva fighting.