Shloka 553
धृष्टद्युम्नस्य द्रोणरथारोহণं सात्यकेः प्रतिरक्षणं च | Dhrishtadyumna Boards Droṇa’s Chariot; Sātyaki’s Counter-Protection
शोभयन् _मेदिनीं गात्रैरादित्य इव पातित: । “निश्चय ही शत्रुओंने उसे मार गिराया है और वह खूनसे लथपथ होकर धरतीपर पड़ा सो रहा है एवं आकाशसे नीचे गिराये हुए सूर्यकी भाँति वह अपने अंगोंसे इस भूमिकी शोभा बढ़ा रहा है
śobhayan medinīṃ gātrair āditya iva pātitaḥ |
Sañjaya said: “Lying fallen like the sun cast down from the sky, he adorns the earth with his limbs. Surely the enemies have struck him down; drenched in blood, he lies upon the ground as though asleep.” The image underscores the tragic inversion of dharma in war: a heroic body, meant to protect the world, becomes an ornament of the battlefield through violent defeat.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical tragedy of war: even the greatest among men—likened to the sun—can be brought low, and the battlefield turns heroic bodies into mute ‘ornaments’ of the earth. It invites reflection on impermanence, the cost of violence, and the tension between kṣatriya-duty and the devastation it entails.
Sañjaya describes a warrior lying fallen on the ground, blood-soaked, apparently motionless. Using a powerful simile, he says the fallen figure resembles the sun dropped from the sky, and that his body ‘adorns’ the earth even in defeat—implying the enemies have surely struck him down.