Shloka 16
कृष्णेन अर्जुनस्य प्रोत्साहनम् — Kṛṣṇa’s Exhortation to Arjuna
Prelude to Karṇa’s Slaying
कितने ही हाथी घुड़सवारोंके छोड़े हुए तोमरों तथा अनेक विपक्षियोंको भी सूँड़ोंसे पकड़कर रणभूमिमें विचरते थे तथा दूसरे उनको टुकड़े-टुकड़े कर डालते थे ।।
nārācaiś chinnavarmāṇo bhrājanti sma gajottamāḥ | himāgame yathā rājan vyabhrā iva mahīdharāḥ ||
サञ्जयは言った。「大王よ、ある象は鼻で、騎馬兵が放ったトマラ槍や多くの敵兵をつかみ、戦場を巡っていた。別の象はそれらを引き裂き、粉々にした。さらに、ナーラーチャの矢によって鎧が切り裂かれ、破れ裂けても、最上の象たちはなお戦場で輝いていた――雲なき寒季の山々が、澄みわたり光を放つように。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the paradox of battlefield ‘splendour’: even when armour is destroyed and life is exposed to mortal danger, warriors and war-elephants continue forward. It implicitly warns that worldly protections are fragile, while also reflecting the kṣatriya ideal of steadfastness amid suffering—an ethically complex endurance within a destructive enterprise.
Sanjaya describes the Kurukṣetra fighting to Dhṛtarāṣṭra. War-elephants, struck by nārāca arrows that slice their armour, still appear radiant. Their appearance is compared to cloudless mountains in the cold season—clear, stark, and imposing—intensifying the visual drama of the battle.