Shloka 15
ते हेमपुड्खैरिषुभिरददिता हेममालिन: । हताः पेतुर्महानागा: साग्निज्वाला इवाद्रय:
te hemapuḍkhair iṣubhir adaditā hemamālinaḥ | hatāḥ petur mahānāgāḥ sāgnijvālā ivādrayaḥ ||
सोने के पंखों वाले बाणों से पीड़ित वे सुवर्ण-मालाधारी विशाल गजराज मारे जाकर आग की ज्वालाओं से युक्त पर्वतों के समान धरती पर गिर पड़े।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tragic irony of war: even the most magnificent and powerful beings—elephant-lords adorned with gold—are reduced to lifeless ruin. It implicitly warns that worldly splendor and strength are fragile when driven into adharma-filled violence, and that battle consumes both beauty and life.
Sañjaya describes a battlefield scene where great elephants, ornamented with gold, are struck and tormented by gold-adorned arrows. They are killed and collapse to the ground, compared poetically to mountains blazing with fire.