Shloka 30

Devanagari script

गजा विंशतिसाहस्रा ईषादन्ता: प्रहारिण: । कुलीना भिन्नकरटा मेघा इव विसर्पिण:

Transliteration

gajā viṁśatisāhasrā īṣādantāḥ prahāriṇaḥ | kulīnā bhinnakaraṭā meghā iva visarpīṇaḥ ||

Translation

વીસ સહસ્ર હાથી—ઈષા સમાન દૃઢ દાંતવાળા, પ્રહારમાં નિપુણ, કુલીન; કપોળ ફાટેલા અને મદધારા વહાવતા—મેઘોની જેમ ફેલાઈને ચાલતા હતા।

Word by Word

गजाःelephants

विंशतिसाहस्राःtwenty-thousand (in number)

ईषादन्ताःwith tusks like plough-beams (huge-tusked)

प्रहारिणःstriking, smiting

कुलीनाःof noble breed

भिन्नकरटाःwith split temples (oozing ichor)

मेघाःclouds

इवlike, as

विसर्पिणःspreading, moving about

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśaṃpāyana

elephants

clouds

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores how immense, well-trained force can appear majestic yet carries grave moral weight: the same disciplined strength that inspires awe also signals the destructive escalation of war, inviting reflection on restraint and responsibility in the use of power.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator describes a massive contingent of war-elephants—noble, aggressive, and in rut—advancing in a broad formation, compared to clouds spreading across the sky, as part of the larger war preparations in the Udyoga Parva.