Shloka 73

Chapter 23: Śakuni Reports, Kaurava Advance, and Arjuna’s Penetration of the Host

Devanagari script

संघातेनासन भ्रष्टैर श्वारोहैर्गतासुभि: । हया: परिपतन्ति सम शतशो5थ सहसत्रश:,शत्रुओंके आघातसे प्राणशून्य होकर आसनसे भ्रष्ट हुए अश्वारोहियोंके साथ सैकड़ों और हजारों घोड़े धराशायी होने लगे

Transliteration

saṅghātenāsanabhraṣṭair aśvārohīr gatāsubhiḥ | hayāḥ paripatanti sma śataśo 'tha sahasraśaḥ ||

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。密集した打撃に討ち伏せられ、騎兵たちは息絶え、鞍から投げ出されて倒れた。彼らとともに馬もまた崩れ落ち、初めは百、やがて千に及んだ。この光景は戦の容赦なき奔流を示す。技と武勇はただの暴力に呑み込まれ、戦の代価は一瞬で消える命の数で量られるのだ。

Word by Word

संघातेनby the blow/impact

आसनभ्रष्टैःwith (those) fallen from their seats

अश्वारोहैःwith horsemen

गतासुभिःlifeless, whose life has gone

हयाःhorses

परिपतन्तिfall down, collapse

समम्together, all at once

शतशःby hundreds

अथand then/and

सहस्रशःby thousands

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

horsemen (cavalry riders)

horses

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the stark ethical cost of war: in the crush of combat, life is extinguished en masse, reminding the listener that martial glory is inseparable from widespread suffering and impermanence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya reports that due to heavy enemy blows, cavalry riders are killed and unseated, and horses collapse alongside them—so many that they fall in hundreds and thousands.