Mahabharata 11.23.2 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 23, Shloka 2
Gāndhārī’s Battlefield Survey: The Fallen and the Onset of Funeral Rites (शल्य-भगीरथ-भीष्म-द्रोणादि-दर्शनम्)
यस्त्वया स्पर्धते नित्य सर्वत्र पुरुषर्षभ । स एष निहतः शेते मद्रराजो महाबल:
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
yas tvayā spardhate nitya sarvatra puruṣarṣabha |
sa eṣa nihataḥ śete madrarājo mahābalaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O bull among men, he who used to contend with you constantly and in every arena—he, the mighty king of Madra, Śalya, now lies here slain, stretched in the sleep of death.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of worldly power and rivalry: even the strongest and most competitive warriors meet the same end. It invites reflection on the ethical cost of incessant contention and the inevitability of death that levels all status.
In the aftermath of the great war, the narrator points out Śalya—king of Madra—who had long been a constant rival to the addressed hero, and now lies dead on the battlefield, emphasizing the war’s devastating finality.
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