Shloka 10
Gāndhārī’s Battlefield Survey: The Fallen and the Onset of Funeral Rites (शल्य-भगीरथ-भीष्म-द्रोणादि-दर्शनम्)
एष शैलालयो राजा भगदत्त: प्रतापवान् | गजाड्कुशधर: श्रीमान् शेते भुवि निपातित:,ये पर्वतीय, तेजस्वी एवं प्रतापी राजा भगदत्त हाथमें हाथीका अंकुश लिये पृथ्वीपर सो रहे हैं। इन्हें अर्जुनने मार गिराया था
vaiśampāyana uvāca | eṣa śailālayaḥ rājā bhagadattaḥ pratāpavān | gajāṅkuśadharaḥ śrīmān śete bhuvi nipātitaḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: “Here lies King Bhagadatta, the mighty lord of the hill-country—illustrious, renowned for valor, and bearing the elephant-goad in his hand—now struck down and stretched upon the earth.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores impermanence and the moral weight of war: worldly splendor and martial power cannot prevent death, and the aftermath forces reflection on the human cost borne by rulers and peoples alike.
In the Stree Parva’s lamentation context, the narrator points out the fallen Bhagadatta—famed as a mountain-region king and associated with elephant warfare—now lying on the ground, slain in battle (traditionally by Arjuna).