Shloka 20

Devanagari script

तत:ः शतानीकहता महागजा हया रथा: पत्तिगणाश्न तावका: । सुपर्णवातप्रहता यथोरगा- स्तथागता गां विवशा विचूर्णिता:,यह देख शतानीकने आपकी सेनापर आक्रमण किया। जैसे गरुड़के पंखोंकी हवासे आहत हुए सर्प पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़ते हैं, उसी प्रकार शतानीकद्वारा मारे गये आपके विशाल हाथी, घोड़े, रथ और पैदल विवश हो पृथ्वीपर गिरकर चूर-चूर हो गये

Transliteration

tataḥ śatānīka-hatā mahāgajā hayā rathāḥ pattigaṇāś ca tāvakāḥ | suparṇa-vāta-prahatā yathoragās tathāgatā gāṃ vivaśā vicūrṇitāḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: Then your great elephants, horses, chariots, and companies of foot-soldiers—struck down by Śatānīka—fell helplessly upon the earth and were shattered. Just as serpents, beaten down by the wind from Garuḍa’s wings, drop to the ground, so too did your forces collapse under Śatānīka’s assault. The verse underscores the ruthless momentum of battle and the fragility of martial pride when confronted by overwhelming prowess.

Word by Word

• {'tataḥ': 'then, thereafter', 'śatānīka-hatāḥ': 'slain/struck down by Śatānīka', 'mahā-gajāḥ': 'great elephants', 'hayāḥ': 'horses', 'rathāḥ': 'chariots', 'patti-gaṇāḥ': 'groups of infantry

• foot-soldier companies', 'ca': 'and', 'tāvakāḥ': 'yours

• belonging to your side (Kaurava forces)', 'suparṇa': 'Garuḍa (the ‘fair-winged’ one)', 'vāta': 'wind, gust', 'prahata': 'struck, battered', 'yathā': 'just as', 'uragāḥ': 'serpents', 'tathā': 'so, in the same way', 'āgatāḥ': 'came to be

• fell/ended up (here: fell down)', 'gām': 'to the earth/ground', 'vivaśāḥ': 'helpless, powerless', 'vicūrṇitāḥ': 'crushed, shattered to pieces'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Śatānīka
• Garuḍa (Suparṇa)
• serpents (uragāḥ)
• elephants
• horses
• chariots
• infantry (patti-gaṇāḥ)
• earth/ground (gām)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the impermanence of power in war: even vast formations—elephants, chariots, cavalry, and infantry—can be rendered helpless in an instant. Ethically, it points to the sobering cost of martial conflict and the collapse of pride when confronted by superior force.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Śatānīka has struck the Kaurava forces so fiercely that they fall to the ground shattered. The scene is intensified through a simile: like snakes forced down by the wind from Garuḍa’s wings, the troops are driven down and broken.