Shloka 10
शिरसां पततां राजन् शब्दो5भूद् वसुधातले । कालेन परिपकवानां तालानां पततामिव,राजन्! कालसे परिपक्व हुए ताड़के फलोंके पृथ्वीपर गिरनेसे जैसा शब्द होता है, उसी प्रकार रणभूमिमें कटकर गिरते हुए योद्धाओंके मस्तकोंका शब्द होता था
sañjaya uvāca |
śirasāṃ patatāṃ rājan śabdo 'bhūd vasudhātale |
kālena paripakvānāṃ tālānāṃ patatām iva rājan ||
Sañjaya said: O King, upon the surface of the earth there arose the sound of falling heads—like the thud made when palm fruits, ripened in due season, drop to the ground. The simile underscores the grim regularity of death in battle: lives are cut down with a natural inevitability, yet the moral weight of such slaughter remains starkly felt.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the relentless, time-driven inevitability (kāla) with which death occurs in war, using a natural simile (ripened palm fruits falling). It invites reflection on the ethical gravity of violence: even when events seem 'inevitable,' the suffering and moral cost remain real.
Sañjaya describes to the king the battlefield sound produced as warriors’ severed heads fall to the ground, comparing it to the sound of ripe palm fruits dropping in season.