Shloka 13
Adhyāya 18 — Sequential Duels and Formation Pressure
Ulūka–Yuyutsu; Śakuni–Sutasoma; Kṛpa–Dhṛṣṭadyumna; Kṛtavarmā–Śikhaṇḍin
द्विपा: सम्भिन्नवर्माणो वज़्ाशनिसमै: शरै: । पेतुर्गियग्रवेश्मानि वज्ञवाताग्निभिर्यथा,वज्र और बिजलीके समान तेजस्वी बाणोंसे कवच विदीर्ण हो जानेके कारण हाथी वज्र, वायु तथा आगसे नष्ट हुए पर्वत-शिखरोंपर बने हुए गृहोंके समान गिर पड़ते थे
dvīpāḥ sambhinnavarmāṇo vajrāśanisamaiḥ śaraiḥ | petur giriśṛṅgaveśmāni vajravātāgnibhir yathā ||
Sañjaya said: Struck by arrows blazing like the thunderbolt and lightning, the elephants—whose armor had been shattered—collapsed, like mountain-peak dwellings brought down by the combined fury of thunderbolt, wind, and fire. The scene underscores the war’s relentless destructiveness, where even the mightiest beings fall when protective order (armor, discipline) is broken.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the fragility of power and protection in war: once the ‘covering’ (armor, order, preparedness) is breached, even the strongest collapse. Ethically, it points to the catastrophic cost of conflict and the swift undoing of embodied strength under relentless violence.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield where elephants, their armor split by fierce arrows likened to thunderbolt and lightning, fall down. He intensifies the image through a simile: they drop like houses on mountain peaks destroyed by thunderbolt, wind, and fire.