Shloka 696
अध्याय ६० — कर्णस्य पाञ्चाल-सोमक-निग्रहः
Karna’s Suppression of the Panchala–Somaka Forces
रराज भूमि: पतितै: क्षीणपुण्यैरिव ग्रहै: । दीप्तिमती प्रभा तथा रत्नोंक आभूषण धारण करके गिरे हुए हाथीसवारोंसे वह भूमि वैसी ही शोभा पा रही थी, मानो पुण्य क्षीण हो जानेपर स्वर्गलोकके ग्रह वहाँ भूतलपर गिर पड़े हों
sañjaya uvāca | rarāja bhūmiḥ patitaiḥ kṣīṇapuṇyair iva grahaiḥ | dīptimatī prabhā tathā ratnānka-ābhūṣaṇa-dhāraṇa-kṛtā |
Sañjaya said: The ground shone with the fallen elephant-riders, adorned with radiant, jewel-studded ornaments—like the heavenly planets themselves, their merit exhausted, had dropped down from the sky onto the earth.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights impermanence and the moral cost of war: splendor and status collapse instantly, and even ‘heavenly’ brilliance is imagined as falling when merit is exhausted—an ethical reminder that adharma-driven violence turns glory into ruin.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield after intense fighting: elephant-riders have fallen, still wearing shining, jewel-studded ornaments, making the ground appear luminous—compared poetically to planets fallen from heaven after their merit has run out.