Shloka 43
सुषुपुस्तत्र राजेन्द्र युक्ता वाहेषु सर्वश: । एवं हयाश्ष नागाश्न योधाश्ष भरतर्षभ । युद्धाद् विरम्य सुषुपु: श्रमेण महतान्विता
suṣupus tatra rājendra yuktā vāheṣu sarvaśaḥ | evaṃ hayāś ca nāgāś ca yodhāś ca bharatarṣabha | yuddhād viramya suṣupuḥ śrameṇa mahatānvitāḥ ||
Sañjaya dit : Ô roi, là ils s’endormirent—de toutes parts—encore attelés à leurs attelages. Ainsi les chevaux, les éléphants et les guerriers eux-mêmes, ô taureau des Bharata, s’étant retirés du combat, s’endormirent, accablés d’une immense fatigue.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the inevitable limits of embodied beings: war consumes strength until even victors and beasts collapse into sleep. Ethically, it points to the pervasive cost of violence—suffering is not confined to combatants but extends to animals and all who are bound to the machinery of war.
Sañjaya reports to the king that, after ceasing from battle, the warriors along with horses and elephants lay down and slept on the spot, many still harnessed, all overcome by intense fatigue.