Shloka 61
सो<5तियत्नार्पितिर्बाणैराचितो द्विरदो बभौ | संस्यूत इव सूर्यस्य रश्मिभिर्जलदो महान्,अत्यन्त प्रयत्नपूर्वक चलाये हुए उन बाणोंसे हाथीका सारा शरीर व्याप्त हो रहा था। उस अवस्थामें वह सूर्यकी किरणोंमें पिरोये हुए महामेघके समान शोभा पा रहा था
so’tiyatnārpitair bāṇair ācito dvirado babhau | saṃsyūta iva sūryasya raśmibhir jalado mahān ||
Sañjaya said: The elephant, completely covered with arrows that had been launched with utmost effort, shone forth. In that condition it looked like a great rain-cloud, as though threaded through by the sun’s rays—an image that heightens the Mahābhārata’s stark ethical tension: even immense strength and majesty in war are rendered fragile under relentless, determined violence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s moral unease about war: determined human effort can turn even a majestic creature into a spectacle of suffering, reminding the listener that battlefield ‘splendor’ often masks cruelty and the rapid undoing of strength.
Sañjaya describes an elephant on the battlefield whose body is densely pierced and covered with arrows shot with great force; despite the grim reality, it appears visually striking—like a massive cloud lit and ‘threaded’ by the sun’s rays.