Shloka 41
सुप्ता: शुशुभिरे तत्र नि:श्वसनन््तो महीतले । विकीर्णा गिरयो यद्वन्नि:श्वसद्धिर्महोरगै:,धरतीपर सोकर निःश्वास खींचते हुए गजराज ऐसे सुशोभित हो रहे थे, मानो पर्वत विखरे पड़े हों और उनमें रहनेवाले बड़े-बड़े सर्प लंबी साँसें छोड़ रहे हों
suptāḥ śuśubhire tatra niḥśvasanto mahītale | vikīrṇā girayo yadvan niḥśvasaddhir mahoragaiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: There, the elephants lay asleep upon the ground, their heavy breathing making them appear splendid—like scattered mountains, as though great serpents dwelling within them were exhaling long breaths. The image underscores the war’s aftermath: even mighty creatures are reduced to exhausted stillness, and the battlefield becomes a landscape of suffering rather than glory.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse conveys the sobering truth of war’s residue: power and grandeur collapse into exhaustion and vulnerability. Through a majestic simile (elephants as mountains), it implicitly critiques triumphalism and points to the pervasive suffering that follows violence.
Sañjaya reports a battlefield scene where elephants lie asleep on the ground, breathing heavily. Their scattered bodies resemble mountains strewn across the earth, and their exhalations are likened to the breaths of great serpents imagined to dwell within mountains.