Shloka 29
कर्णपर्व — अध्याय ५७
Arjuna’s targeted advance; Śalya–Karṇa dialogue; interception attempts
विपाटितविचित्रांश्व॒ रूप्यचित्रान् कुथाड्कुशान् | भिन्नाश्न बहुधा घण्टा महद्धिः पतितैर्गजै:,“हाथियोंके विचित्र झूल, मृगचर्म और कम्बल चिथड़े-चिथड़े होकर गिरे हैं। चाँदीके तारोंसे चित्रित झूल, अंकुश और अनेक टुकड़ोंमें बँटे हुए बहुत-से घंटे महान् गजराजोंके साथ ही धरतीपर गिरे पड़े हैं
vipāṭita-vicitrāṁś ca rūpya-citrān kuṭhāṅkuśān | bhinnāś ca bahudhā ghaṇṭā mahadbhis patitair gajaiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Torn to shreds, the elephants’ splendid trappings—some adorned with silver-work—together with their goads and axes, and many great bells broken into numerous pieces, lay scattered on the ground, fallen along with the mighty elephants.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of worldly splendor in war: ornate wealth and instruments of power (silver trappings, bells, goads) are reduced to fragments when life is cut down, highlighting impermanence and the cost of violence.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield aftermath: mighty elephants have fallen, and with them their decorated coverings and equipment—silver-worked ornaments, goads, axes, and bells—now torn and broken, strewn across the earth.