Shloka 513

Śālva’s Elephant Assault and the Counterstroke (शाल्वस्य नागारूढाभ्यवहारः)

Devanagari script

सम्भग्ना इव वातेन कर्णिकारा: सुपुष्पिता: । मारे गये पैदल सैनिक खूनसे लथपथ हो पृथ्वीपर सदाके लिये सो गये, मानो हवाके उखाड़े हुए सुन्दर लाल फूलोंसे भरे कनेरके वृक्ष पड़े हों

Transliteration

sambhagnā iva vātena karṇikārāḥ supuṣpitāḥ | māre gatā paidala-sainikāḥ khūna-se lathapatha ho pṛthvīpara sadā ke liye so gaye, māno havāke ukhāṛe hue sundara lāla phūloṃ se bhare kanerake vṛkṣa paṛe hoṃ |

Translation

Sañjaya dit : Les fantassins frappés à mort gisaient sur la terre, trempés de sang, comme s’ils s’étaient endormis pour toujours—tels des arbres karṇikāra en pleine floraison, brisés et déracinés par le vent, leurs belles fleurs rouges éparpillées. L’image souligne l’effroyable prix de la guerre : des vies fauchées d’un coup, la beauté et la vigueur changées en immobilité, et le champ de bataille devenu un sombre témoignage de la violence humaine et de l’impermanence.

Word by Word

• सम्भग्नाः: broken, shattered
• सम्भग्नाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सम्भग्न (√भञ्ज्)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• इव: as if, like
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव

• वातेन: by the wind
• वातेन: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: वात
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• कर्णिकाराः: karnikāra trees (a flowering tree)
• कर्णिकाराः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्णिकार
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• सुपुष्पिताः: well-flowered, in full bloom
• सुपुष्पिताः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सुपुष्पित (सु+पुष्पित)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• infantry soldiers (paidala-sainikāḥ)
• earth (pṛthvī)
• wind (vāta)
• karṇikāra trees
• flowers (puṣpa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse conveys the ethical and existential weight of war: human lives, like flowering trees, can be cut down suddenly. The poetic simile intensifies compassion and highlights impermanence, warning that martial glory is inseparable from irreversible loss.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the battlefield aftermath: foot-soldiers have been killed and lie motionless on the ground, soaked in blood. Their fallen bodies are compared to wind-broken karṇikāra trees laden with red blossoms.