Shloka 30
Gāndhārī’s Battlefield Survey: The Fallen and the Onset of Funeral Rites (शल्य-भगीरथ-भीष्म-द्रोणादि-दर्शनम्)
यस्य निर्दहतः सेनां गतिरग्नेरिवाभवत् | स भूमौ निहतः शेते शान्तार्चिरिव पावक:,शत्रुओंकी सेनाको दग्ध करते समय जिनकी गति अग्निके समान होती थी, वे ही बुझी हुई लपटोंवाली आगके समान मरकर पृथ्वीपर पड़े हैं
yasya nirdahataḥ senāṃ gatir agner ivābhavat | sa bhūmau nihataḥ śete śāntārcir iva pāvakaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “He whose onrush, while burning the enemy host, was like the very course of fire—he now lies slain upon the earth, like a fire whose flames have been quenched.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the transience of martial glory: the same force that once seemed unstoppable—like fire consuming an army—ends as lifeless stillness. It invites ethical reflection on the cost of violence and the inevitability of death that levels all power.
In the lament-filled aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war (Strī Parva), the narrator describes a mighty warrior who once devastated enemy forces with fire-like speed and power, now lying dead on the battlefield, compared to a fire whose flames have been extinguished.