Shloka 55
सो<दृश्यत मुहूर्तेन श्वाविच्छधललितो यथा । घटोत्कचके शरीरमें दो अंगुल भी ऐसा स्थान नहीं बचा था, जो बाणोंसे विदीर्ण न हो गया हो। वह दो ही घड़ीमें काँटोंसे युक्त साहीके समान दिखायी देने लगा ।। न हयान्न रथं तस्य न ध्वजं न घटोत्कचम्
so 'dṛśyata muhūrtena śvāvicchadhalalito yathā | ghaṭotkacake śarīre na aṅgula-dvayam api tādṛśaṃ sthānaṃ na avaśiṣyate yat bāṇair na vidīrṇaṃ syāt | sa hi dve ghaṭike eva kaṇṭakair yuktaḥ śāhī iva dṛśyate || na hayān na rathaṃ tasya na dhvajaṃ na ghaṭotkacam |
Sañjaya said: In a very short time he appeared like a porcupine bristling with quills. On Ghaṭotkaca’s body there was not even a space of two fingers’ breadth left that had not been torn open by arrows. Within only two ghaṭikās he looked like a hedgehog covered with spikes. Neither his horses, nor his chariot, nor his banner—nor even Ghaṭotkaca himself—remained unpierced (by the shower of arrows).
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the brutal momentum of war and the fragility of the body even for mighty heroes; it implicitly warns that martial glory is inseparable from suffering, and that ethical reflection (dharma) must account for the human cost of violence.
Sañjaya describes Ghaṭotkaca being rapidly riddled with arrows so densely that no small space on his body remains unpierced; he looks like a porcupine/hedgehog bristling with spikes, and the assault extends to his chariot, horses, and banner.