Shloka 16
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 125: Duryodhana’s despair and vow after Jayadratha’s fall (जयद्रथवधे दुर्योधनविलापः)
नागैश्न बहुधा चिलिन्नैर्ध्वजैश्वेव विशाम्पते
nāgaiś ca bahudhā chinnaiḥ dhvajaiś caiva viśāmpate
Sañjaya said: “O lord of men, the field was strewn in many places with severed elephants and with standards cut down—signs of the battle’s relentless force and the collapse of outward emblems of power amid the ruin of war.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the impermanence of worldly power: even royal emblems like banners and mighty war-elephants are reduced to ruin in war, warning that pride in external strength collapses before violence and fate.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield scene to Dhṛtarāṣṭra: elephants lie cut down and standards are severed in many places, conveying the intensity of the fighting and the disarray of the armies.