Shloka 45
Chapter 12: Arjuna’s suppression of the Saṃśaptakas and duel with Aśvatthāmā
Drauṇi
वज्रप्रभग्नमचलं सिंहो वजहतो यथा । त॑ हतं नृपतिं दृष्टवा कुलूतानां यशस्करम् | प्राद्रवद् व्यथिता सेना त्वदीया भरतर्षभ
sañjaya uvāca |
vajra-prabhagnam acalaṁ siṁho vajahato yathā |
taṁ hataṁ nṛpatiṁ dṛṣṭvā kulūtānāṁ yaśaskaram |
prādravad vyathitā senā tvadīyā bharatarṣabha |
Dijo Sañjaya: «Como un león, fulminado por un rayo, yace hecho pedazos junto a una montaña hendida por el mismo golpe, así cayó muerto aquel rey. Al ver la muerte de ese soberano—gloria de los Kulūtas—tu ejército, oh toro entre los Bhāratas, se estremeció de angustia y huyó.»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of worldly power and reputation in war: even a celebrated king who increases his people’s fame can be cut down in an instant, and collective confidence collapses when leadership falls—highlighting impermanence and the ethical weight of violence.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a king associated with the Kulūtas has been slain. Using a vivid simile of a thunderbolt-shattered mountain and a lion struck down, he describes how, upon seeing the king dead, Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s troops became distressed and fled.