Shloka 14
ततो भीमो महाबाहुरनीके स्वे महागजम्,राजन्! तब महाबाहु भीमसेनने अपनी ही सेनाके एक विशाल हाथीको गदासे मार डाला। उसका नाम था अअश्वत्थामा। शत्रुओंको मथ डालनेवाला वह भयंकर गजराज मालवाके राजा इन्द्रवर्माका था
tato bhīmo mahābāhur anīke sve mahāgajam, rājan, tadā mahābāhur bhīmaseno ’pi svasyā eva senāyā ekaṁ viśālaṁ hastinaṁ gadayā mārayām āsa. tasya nāma aśvatthāmā iti. śatrūn mathanavān sa bhīṣaṇo gajarājo mālavarājasya indrvarmaṇaḥ āsīt.
Sanjaya said: Then Bhima of mighty arms, O King, struck down with his mace a huge elephant within his own battle-array. That formidable elephant—named Aśvatthāmā—was a terrifying crusher of foes, belonging to Indravarman, the king of Mālava. The moment underscores the brutal confusion of war, where even the naming of a beast becomes morally charged, foreshadowing how truth and deception will be weaponized amid the struggle for victory.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how warfare breeds moral ambiguity: even a factual event (killing an elephant named Aśvatthāmā) can become ethically fraught when names and truths are later leveraged to influence decisions. It points to the tension between dharma (truthfulness, right conduct) and the desperate strategies adopted in catastrophic conflict.
Bhima strikes down a massive war-elephant in the midst of the army formation. The elephant’s name is Aśvatthāmā, and it belongs to Indravarman of Mālava. This detail is significant because it sets up later battlefield messaging where the name ‘Aśvatthāmā’ carries strategic and emotional weight.