Shloka 71
अध्याय ६० — कर्णस्य पाञ्चाल-सोमक-निग्रहः
Karna’s Suppression of the Panchala–Somaka Forces
दुद्रुवु: शतश: संख्ये भीमसेनशराहता: । तदनन्तर भीमसेनके बाणोंसे आहत हो फूटे गण्डस्थल, विदीर्ण कुम्भस्थल और छित्न- भिन्न शुण्डदण्डवाले सैकड़ों हाथी युद्धस्थलमें भागने लगे ।।
dudruvuḥ śataśaḥ saṅkhye bhīmasena-śarāhatāḥ | tadanantaraṃ bhīmasenakena bāṇaiḥ āhataḥ sphuṭita-gaṇḍasthalaḥ vidīrṇa-kumbhasthalaḥ chinna-bhinna-śuṇḍa-daṇḍavālaḥ saikadoṃ hāthī yuddhasthale palāyanta || kecid vamanto rudhiraṃ bhayārtāḥ parvatopamāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Struck by Bhīmasena’s arrows, hundreds of elephants fled in panic across the battlefield. Their temples were split, their frontal globes torn, and their trunks mangled and severed; some, mountain-like in bulk, ran on vomiting blood in terror.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the harsh moral reality of war: even the strongest beings collapse under fear and injury. It implicitly warns that martial success is inseparable from widespread suffering, urging reflection on the cost of conflict and the responsibility borne by those who wage it.
Sañjaya describes Bhīmasena’s fierce assault: his arrows grievously wound masses of elephants, causing them to break formation and flee. Some, enormous as mountains, run in terror while vomiting blood, intensifying the scene’s chaos and brutality.