Shloka 54

Adhyāya 65: Dawn Assembly, Makara–Śyena Vyūhas, and Commander Engagements

Devanagari script

वमन्तो रुधिरं चान्ये भिन्नकुम्भा महागजा: | विह्वलन्तो गता भूमिं शैला इव धरातले,कितने ही विशालकाय हाथी खून उगल रहे थे और उनके कुम्भस्थल फट गये थे। बहुत-से व्याकुल होकर इस भूतलपर पर्वतोंके समान पड़े थे

Transliteration

vamanto rudhiraṃ cānye bhinnakumbhā mahāgajāḥ | vihvalanto gatā bhūmiṃ śailā iva dharātale ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: Many great elephants, their frontal globes split open, were vomiting blood; reeling in agony, they collapsed upon the earth like mountains fallen on the ground. The scene underscores the brutal cost of war, where even the mightiest creatures are reduced to suffering and ruin, reminding the listener of the grave ethical weight borne by those who choose battle.

Word by Word

वमन्तःvomiting, spewing

रुधिरम्blood

चand

अन्येothers

भिन्नकुम्भाःwhose temples (forehead-bulges) are split

महागजाःgreat elephants

विह्वलन्तःbeing distressed, reeling

गताःhaving gone / having fallen (gone to)

भूमिम्to the ground

शैलाःmountains

इवlike, as if

धरातलेon the surface of the earth

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

mahāgajāḥ (great elephants)

bhūmi (earth/ground)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the severe, indiscriminate suffering caused by war: even powerful war-elephants are broken and bleeding. It implicitly presses an ethical awareness of the human choices that unleash such devastation, a recurring Mahābhārata concern alongside discussions of kṣatriya-duty.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the battlefield aftermath: many elephants have their temple-globes ruptured, are spitting blood, and—overwhelmed and unsteady—collapse to the ground like mountains.