Shloka 7
गजैनिकृत्तैर्वरहस्तगात्रै- रुद्वेपमानै: पतितै: पृथिव्याम् । विशीर्णदन्तै: क्षतजं वमद्धि: स्फुरद्धिरातैं: करुणं नदद्धिः,हाथियोंके शुण्डदण्ड और शरीर छित्न-भिन्न हो गये हैं। कितने ही हाथी पृथ्वीपर गिरकर काँप रहे हैं, कितनोंके दाँत टूट गये हैं और वे खून उगलते तथा छटपटाते हुए वेदनाग्रस्त हो करुण स्वरमें कराह रहे हैं
gajainikṛttair varahastagātrair udvepamānaiḥ patitaiḥ pṛthivyām | viśīrṇadantaiḥ kṣatajaṃ vamadbhiḥ sphuraddhir ārtaiḥ karuṇaṃ nadadbhiḥ ||
Śalya said: “Elephants lie on the earth with their trunks and mighty limbs hewn apart. Some, fallen down, still tremble; some have their tusks shattered. Spitting blood, writhing in agony, they cry out in a pitiful voice.” The verse underscores the brutal cost of battle and the moral weight of violence that reduces even the strongest beings to helpless suffering.
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tragic, dehumanizing (and ‘de-animalizing’) consequences of war: strength and grandeur collapse into pain and helplessness. By making the listener confront suffering directly, it implicitly raises an ethical awareness of the cost of violence even within the framework of kṣatriya duty.
Śalya describes the battlefield scene: elephants have been mutilated—trunks and limbs cut, tusks broken—and they lie fallen, trembling, vomiting blood, and crying out in agony. The description intensifies the horror of the ongoing combat in the Karṇa Parva.