Shloka 13

Virāṭa-parva Adhyāya 54 — Missile-Exchange and Tactical Redirection

Arjuna, Aśvatthāman, Karṇa

Devanagari script

ततः स विद्धों भरतर्षभेण बाणेन गात्रावरणातिगेन । गतासुराजौ निपपात भूमौ नगो नगाग्रादिव वातरुग्ण:,भरतश्रेष्ठ अर्जुनके बाण कवच छेदकर शरीरके भीतर घुस जाते थे। उनके द्वारा घायल होकर राजा शत्रुंतपके प्राणपखेरू उड़ गये और जैसे आँधीसे उखड़ा हुआ वृक्ष पर्वतशिखरसे नीचे गिरे, उसी प्रकार वह रथसे रणभूमिमें गिर पड़ा

Transliteration

tataḥ sa viddho bharatarṣabheṇa bāṇena gātrāvaraṇātigena | gatāsurājau nipapāta bhūmau nago nagāgrādiva vātarugṇaḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: Then that king, struck by the bull among the Bharatas (Arjuna) with an arrow that pierced through his bodily armor, lost his life-breath and fell to the ground. Like a mountain tree shattered by a storm and crashing down from a peak, so he toppled from his chariot onto the battlefield.

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

सःhe

विद्धःpierced, wounded

भरतर्षभेणby the bull among the Bharatas (Arjuna)

बाणेनby an arrow

गात्रावरणातिगेनthat had passed through the body-armor (piercing the protective covering)

गतासुःlifeless, whose life had gone

राजाthe king

निपपातfell down

भूमौon the ground

नगःa tree (lit. immovable)

नगाग्रात्from a mountain-peak

इवlike, as if

वातरुग्णःbroken/afflicted by the wind

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Arjuna (implied by 'bharatarṣabha')

bāṇa (arrow)

gātrāvaraṇa (armor)

ratha (chariot, implied by the fall)

bhūmi (ground)

naga/naga-agra (tree and mountain-peak in the simile)

vāta (wind/storm)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the inevitability of consequences in righteous conflict: when war is joined under dharma, skill and resolve can bring swift, final outcomes. The storm-torn tree simile stresses impermanence of power and the fragility of embodied life before decisive action.

What is happening in the narrative?

A king is struck by Arjuna’s penetrating arrow that passes through his armor; his life departs and he falls from his chariot onto the battlefield, compared to a great tree blown down from a mountain peak.