Shloka 50
Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 19 — Saṃśaptaka–Trigarta Assault and Aindra-astra Counter
स पादशो राक्षसभोजनान् बहून् प्रदाय पाण्ड्यो5श्वमनुष्यकुञ्जरान् । स्वधामिवाप्य ज्वलनः पितृप्रिय- सतत: प्रशान्त: सलिलप्रवाहत:,जैसे पितरोंकी प्रिय चिताग्नि मृत शरीरको पाकर प्रज्वलित हो उसे जलाती है और अन्तमें जलका अभिषेक पाकर शान्त हो जाती है, उसी प्रकार पाण्ड्यनरेश घोड़े, हाथी और मनुष्योंके टुकड़े-टुकड़े करके उन्हें प्रचुर मात्रामें राक्षसोंके लिये भोजन देकर अन्तमें अश्व॒त्थामाके बाणसे सदाके लिये शान्त हो गये
sa pādaśo rākṣasa-bhojanān bahūn pradāya pāṇḍyo’śva-manuṣya-kuñjarān | svadhāmivāpya jvalanaḥ pitṛ-priyaḥ satataḥ praśāntaḥ salila-pravāhataḥ ||
Sañjaya said: The Pāṇḍya king, having hewn horses, men, and elephants into pieces, gave them in abundance as food for the rākṣasas. Then, struck by Aśvatthāmā’s arrow, he became forever stilled—like the fire of a funeral pyre, dear to the ancestors, which flares up upon receiving the dead body, consumes it, and at last is quieted when water is poured upon it.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grim moral texture of war: even extraordinary martial ferocity culminates in inevitable stillness. The simile of the funeral fire suggests that violence ‘consumes’ until it is finally quenched—hinting at the transient, self-extinguishing nature of wrath and battle, and the inescapability of death.
Sañjaya describes the Pāṇḍya king’s fierce fighting—dismembering horses, men, and elephants and leaving abundant flesh as rākṣasa-food—until he is finally struck down by Aśvatthāmā’s arrow and becomes motionless, compared to a pyre-fire that blazes and then is extinguished by water.