Shloka 12
अध्याय २६ — शल्यस्य सारथ्य-नियोजनं, कर्णस्य प्रस्थानं, उत्पातदर्शनं च
Chapter 26: Śalya appointed as charioteer; Karṇa’s departure; portents
श्रुतंजयं च राजानं हत्वा तत्र शिलाशितै:,फिर सानपर चढ़ाकर तेज किये हुए कई बाणोंसे राजा श्रुतंजयका वध करके सौश्रुतिके शिरस्त्राणसहित सिरको धड़से अलग कर दिया। फिर तुरंत ही चन्द्रदेवको भी अपने बाणोंद्वारा यमलोक पहुँचा दिया
sañjaya uvāca | śrutaṃjayaṃ ca rājānaṃ hatvā tatra śilāśitaiḥ, śarair ānupare cāḍhyaṃ kṛtvā tejaḥ-pradīpitaiḥ | sa-śirastṛāṇaṃ sauśrutikaṃ śiraś chittvā dharātale pātayām āsa | tataḥ kṣaṇād eva candradevam api svabāṇair yamalokaṃ prāpayām āsa |
Sañjaya said: There, after slaying King Śrutaṃjaya with arrows sharpened on stone and further honed to a blazing keenness, he severed Sauśrutika’s head together with its helmet and cast it down. Then, without delay, he also dispatched Candradeva to Yama’s realm by means of his arrows. The passage underscores the grim momentum of battle: prowess and technique become instruments of death, and the ethical weight of war is conveyed through the stark finality of beheading and the repeated sending of warriors to the world of the dead.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral gravity and irreversible consequences of war: technical excellence and valor, when directed toward killing, rapidly multiply death. It implicitly invites reflection on kṣatriya-duty versus the human cost—how battlefield dharma can demand lethal action while still carrying ethical weight.
Sañjaya reports a sequence of battlefield slayings: King Śrutaṃjaya is killed with expertly sharpened arrows; Sauśrutika is beheaded along with his helmet; and Candradeva is then quickly slain and ‘sent to Yama’s realm’—a conventional epic expression for death.