Virata Parva Adhyaya 54 Shloka 13 - Mahabharata | French | Vedapath

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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:

Transliteration

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

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : Alors ce roi, frappé par le taureau des Bhārata (Arjuna) d’une flèche qui perça son armure, perdit son souffle vital et tomba à terre. Tel un arbre de montagne brisé par la tempête et s’abattant d’un sommet, ainsi bascula-t-il de son char sur le champ de bataille.

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

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.