Shloka 68

Devanagari script

सहसतनेत्रप्रतिमानकर्मण: सहस्रपत्रप्रतिमाननं शुभम्‌ | सहसरश्मिर्दिनसंक्षये यथा तथापतत्‌ कर्णशिरो वसुंधराम्‌

Transliteration

sahasranetra-pratimāna-karmaṇaḥ sahasra-patra-pratimānanaṃ śubham | sahasra-raśmir dina-saṃkṣaye yathā tathāpatat karṇa-śiro vasuṃdharām ||

Translation

サञ्जयは語った。千眼のインドラにも比すべき業をなし、顔は千弁の蓮華のごとく麗しいカルナの高貴なる首は、大地に落ちた。ちょうど日没に、千条の光を放つ太陽の円輪が沈むように。これは戦場における偉大な生の終幕を示す像である。栄光と威勢は無常であり、いかなる大勇士といえども、身を受けた者すべてを支配する最後の法から逃れられない。

Word by Word

• सहस्रतनेत्रप्रतिमानकर्मणः: of (him) whose deeds are comparable to the thousand-eyed (Indra)
• सहस्रतनेत्रप्रतिमानकर्मणः: Sambandha
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सहस्र-नेत्र-प्रतिमान-कर्मन्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• सहस्रपत्रप्रतिमाननम्: the head/face comparable to a thousand-petalled (lotus)
• सहस्रपत्रप्रतिमाननम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सहस्र-पत्र-प्रतिमान-नन (नन/ननम् as head/face)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• शुभम्: auspicious, beautiful
• शुभम्: Visheshana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शुभ
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• सहस्ररश्मिः: the thousand-rayed (sun)
• सहस्ररश्मिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सहस्र-रश्मि
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• दिनसंक्षये: at the end of the day
• दिनसंक्षये: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: दिन-संक्षय
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• यथा: as, just as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• तथा: so, in the same way
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• अपतत्: fell
• Type: Verb
• Root: पत् (पतति)
• Form: Imperfect (Lan), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• कर्णशिरः: Karna’s head
• कर्णशिरः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्ण-शिरस्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• वसुंधराम्: to the earth/ground
• वसुंधराम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: वसुंधरा
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Karṇa
• Indra
• Sūrya (the Sun)
• Vasundharā (Earth)
• Sahasra-dala-kamala (thousand-petalled lotus, as simile)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores impermanence: even a warrior likened to Indra in prowess and to a lotus in beauty must fall. Martial glory is real yet fleeting, and the moral world of the epic reminds the listener that embodied power ends under the same universal law.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports the climactic moment of Karṇa’s death: his head falls to the ground. The fall is poetically framed through two similes—Indra (for heroic deeds) and the setting sun (for the inevitable close of a great life).