Shloka 60
अर्जुनके बाणोंसे छिन्न-भिन्न एवं प्राणशून्य हुए कर्णको रथसे नीचे पृथ्वीपर गिरा देख दूसरे बलवान् सैनिक एक-दूसरेको गलेसे लगाकर नाचते और गर्जते हुए बातें करते थे ।। महानिलेनाद्रिमिवापविद्ध॑ं यज्ञावसानेडग्निमिव प्रशान्तम् | रराज कर्णस्य शिरो निकृत्त- मस्तं गतं भास्करस्येव बिम्बम्,कर्णका वह कटा हुआ मस्तक वायुके वेगसे टूटकर गिरे हुए पर्वतखण्डके समान, यज्ञके अन्तमें बुझी हुई अग्निके सदूश तथा अस्ताचलपर पहुँचे हुए सूर्यके बिम्बकी भाँति सुशोभित हो रहा था
sañjaya uvāca |
arjunake bāṇaiś chinna-bhinnaṁ ca prāṇaśūnyaṁ ca karṇaṁ rathād adhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ patitaṁ dṛṣṭvā, anye balavantaḥ sainikā anyonyam āliṅgya nṛtyantaḥ garjantaś ca parasparaṁ kathāḥ kathayanti sma ||
mahānilena adrīm iva apaviddhaṁ yajñāvasāne agnim iva praśāntam |
rarāja karṇasya śiro nikṛttaṁ astaṁ gataṁ bhāskarasyeva bimbam ||
Sanjaya said: When they saw Karna—shattered by Arjuna’s arrows, bereft of life—fall down from his chariot onto the earth, other mighty warriors embraced one another, dancing and roaring as they spoke among themselves. Karna’s severed head appeared striking—like a mountain-peak hurled down by a great gale, like a sacrificial fire that has gone out at the rite’s conclusion, and like the sun’s disc sinking into the western horizon. The verse frames the battlefield’s grim triumph: exultation on one side, and the stark extinguishing of a heroic life on the other.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the impermanence of worldly power and the moral ambiguity of victory in war: even a great hero’s life can be ‘extinguished’ like a sacrificial fire at the rite’s end, while others may celebrate—revealing how dharma on the battlefield is entangled with grief, consequence, and the fleeting nature of triumph.
After Arjuna’s arrows strike down Karna, Karna falls from his chariot dead. Sanjaya reports that warriors react with loud celebration, and he describes the severed head through vivid similes—wind-toppled mountain, quenched ritual fire, and the setting sun—emphasizing the finality and grandeur of Karna’s fall.