Shloka 36
व्यायम्य संयुगे राजा दृष्टवा च पितरं हतम्,राजा बश्रुवाहन युद्धस्थलमें बड़ा परिश्रम करके लड़ा था। वह भी अर्जुनके बाणसमूहोंद्वारा पहलेसे ही बहुत घायल हो चुका था। अत: पिताको मारा गया देख वह भी युद्धके मुहानेपर अचेत होकर गिर पड़ा और पृथ्वीका आलिंगन करने लगा
Vaiśampāyana uvāca — vyāyamya saṃyuge rājā dṛṣṭvā ca pitaraṃ hatam | rājā babhruvāhanaḥ yuddhasthale mahān vyāyāmaṃ kṛtvā alabhata | sa cārjunabāṇasaṃghātaiḥ pūrvam eva bahuviddhaḥ āsīt | ataḥ pitaraṃ hataṃ dṛṣṭvā sa api yuddhamukhe mūrcchitaḥ papāta, pṛthivīm āliṅgituṃ pravavṛte ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Having exerted himself in the battle, and seeing his father slain, King Babhruvāhana—who had fought on the field with great effort and was already grievously wounded by the volleys of Arjuna’s arrows—collapsed at the very edge of the fight. Overcome by shock and exhaustion, he fell senseless and clung to the earth. The scene underscores the tragic moral weight of war: even rightful combat can culminate in unbearable grief when kin are struck down.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the ethical cost of warfare: even when combat follows kṣatriya-dharma, the killing of kin can produce overwhelming remorse and collapse. It implicitly warns that victory in battle does not erase the moral and emotional consequences of violence.
Babhruvāhana has fought strenuously and is already badly wounded by Arjuna’s arrows. When he sees his father slain, he is overcome by shock, faints at the battlefront, falls to the ground, and clings to the earth in grief.