Shloka 60
सतुतं श्रुतकर्माणमास्ये जघ्ने वरासिना | स हतो न्यपतद् भूमौ विमूढो विकृतानन:,अश्वत्थामाने अपनी तेज तलवारसे श्रुतकर्मके मुखयर आघात किया। वह चोट खाकर बेहोश हो पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़ा। उस समय उसका मुख विकृत हो गया था
stutaṃ śrutakarmāṇam āsye jaghne varāsinā | sa hato nyapatad bhūmau vimūḍho vikṛtānanaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Aśvatthāmā struck Śrutakarmā—who was being praised—on the face with his excellent sword. Wounded by that blow, he fell to the ground, senseless, his features distorted. The scene underscores the brutal, indiscriminate violence of the night-raid, where valor and reputation offer no protection and ethical boundaries of warfare collapse.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral degradation of warfare when rules are abandoned: in the Sauptika episode, violence becomes indiscriminate, and the dignity of combat is replaced by cruelty, illustrating adharma’s consequences.
Sañjaya narrates that Aśvatthāmā strikes the warrior Śrutakarmā in the face with a sword; Śrutakarmā collapses unconscious to the ground, his face distorted from the blow.