Shloka 60
ततोडन्तरिक्षादपतद् गतासु: सराक्षसेन्द्रो भुवि भिन्नदेह: । अवाक्शिरा: स्तब्धगात्रो विजिह्नो घटोत्कचो महदास्थाय रूपम्
tato 'nantarikṣād apatat gatāsuḥ sarākṣasendro bhuvi bhinnadehaḥ | avākśirāḥ stabdhagātro vijihno ghaṭotkaco mahad āsthāya rūpam ||
Sañjaya said: Then, the lord of the Rākṣasas—Ghaṭotkaca—his life departed and his body shattered, fell down from the sky onto the earth. Headlong, his limbs rigid, and his form distorted, he lay there having assumed a vast and terrible shape. The scene underscores the grim law of war: even the mightiest, when struck down, become a warning of impermanence and the heavy cost of violence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the stark impermanence of embodied power: even a formidable warrior, celebrated for supernatural might, becomes lifeless in an instant. Ethically, it points to the grave consequences of warfare—victory and loss are inseparable from suffering, and martial glory culminates in mortality.
Sañjaya reports that Ghaṭotkaca, the leader among the Rākṣasas, has been slain and falls from the sky to the ground. His body is described as shattered, headlong, rigid, and distorted, and he appears in an enormous form as he collapses.