Shloka 24
Irāvān-nidhana-anantaraṃ Ghaṭotkaca-nādaḥ
After Irāvān’s fall: Ghaṭotkaca’s roar and the clash with Duryodhana
स तया वीरघातिन्या गदया गदिनां वर: । गौतमस्य हयान् हत्वा सारथिं च न्यपातयत्,गदाधारियोंमें श्रेष्ठ चेकितानने उस वीरघातिनी गदासे कृपाचार्यके घोड़ोंको मारकर उनके सारथिको भी धराशायी कर दिया
sa tayā vīraghātinyā gadayā gadināṃ varaḥ | gautamasya hayān hatvā sārathiṃ ca nyapātayat |
サンジャヤは言った。その「英雄殺し」の棍棒をもって、棍棒使いの中でも第一のチェーキターナは、ガウタマ（クリパ）の馬を打ち殺し、御者をも打ち倒した。この一幕は戦場戦術の残酷な効率を示す。馬と御者を狙って機動を奪えば勝負は決しうるが、そこには武の必然と戦の苛烈な代償とのあいだに、なお倫理の緊張が横たわる。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war rewards tactical decisiveness—disabling an opponent’s chariot by killing horses and the charioteer—while implicitly pointing to the moral weight of such actions, a recurring tension in the Mahābhārata between duty in battle and the suffering it entails.
Sañjaya reports that Cekitāna, renowned among mace-fighters, uses his mace to kill Kṛpa’s (called Gautama) horses and to knock down the charioteer, thereby crippling Kṛpa’s chariot and combat effectiveness.