Shloka 15
Adhyāya 14: Śalya’s Missile-Pressure and the Pāṇḍava Convergence (शल्यस्य शरवर्षम्)
अक्षाणामथ योकत्राणां प्रतोदानां च सर्वश: । शिरसां पततां चापि कुण्डलोष्णीषधारिणाम्
akṣāṇām atha yoktrāṇāṁ pratodānāṁ ca sarvaśaḥ | śirasāṁ patatāṁ cāpi kuṇḍaloṣṇīṣa-dhāriṇām ||
Sañjaya said: “Everywhere lay scattered the dice-like axle-pins, the yoke-straps, and the goads; and also the heads of fallen warriors—still bearing their earrings and turbans.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the dehumanizing cost of war: not only weapons and chariot-gear lie ruined, but even the visible signs of honor and identity (earrings, turbans) remain on severed heads. It invites reflection on impermanence and the ethical gravity of violence.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield aftermath in vivid detail—broken chariot equipment scattered everywhere and the heads of fallen warriors lying about, still adorned with ornaments and headgear—heightening the sense of devastation in the Shalya Parva war scenes.