Shloka 653
Kailāsa-darśana, Badarī-vāsa, and Sarasvatī–Dvaitavana Transition (कैलासदर्शन–बदरीवास–सरस्वतीद्वैतवनगमनम्)
शुष्कवृक्षमिवारण्यमदृश्यम भवत् पुरम् दानवोंका वह नगर शोकमग्न हो अपनी सारी शोभा खो चुका था। वहाँ दुःख और दीनता व्याप्त हो रही थी। अपने प्रभुओंके मारे जानेसे वह दानव-नगर निष्प्रभ और अशोभनीय हो गया था। गन्धर्व-नगरकी भाँति उसका अस्तित्व अयथार्थ जान पड़ता था। जिसका हाथी मर गया हो, उस सरोवर और जहाँके वृक्ष सूख गये हों, उस वनके समान वह नगर अदर्शनीय हो गया था
arjuna uvāca | śuṣkavṛkṣam ivāraṇyam adṛśyaṁ bhavat puram | dānavānāṁ tad nagaraṁ śokamagnam ivābhavat ||
Arjuna said: “That city had become as unlovely as a forest of withered trees. The Daitya city, sunk in grief after the fall of its lords, had lost all splendor and seemed unreal—like a Gandharva-city. Bereft of its protectors, it appeared desolate and unfit to behold, like a lake whose elephant has died and a woodland whose trees have dried up.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores impermanence and the ethical cost of violence: when protectors and leaders fall, a community’s splendor and stability collapse, leaving only grief and desolation. It also contrasts seeming and being through the ‘Gandharva-city’ image—what appears substantial can become unreal when its sustaining order is destroyed.
Arjuna is describing the condition of a Dānava (Daitya) city after its rulers have been slain. He uses vivid similes—withered forest, a lake bereft of its elephant, and the mirage-like Gandharva-city—to convey that the city has lost beauty, vitality, and even the sense of reality.