Shloka 25

Devanagari script

प्राणा: प्राणभृतां संख्ये प्रेषितानि शितै: शरै: । राजन प्रापुरमुं लोक॑ शरीराण्यवनिं ययु:,राजन! उस युद्धस्थलमें उसके पैने बाणोंसे प्रेरित हुए प्राणधारियोंके शरीर तो पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़े, परंतु प्राण परलोकमें जा पहुँचे

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca |

prāṇāḥ prāṇabhṛtāṃ saṅkhye preṣitāni śitaiḥ śaraiḥ |

rājan prāpur amuṃ lokaṃ śarīrāṇy avanīṃ yayuḥ ||

Translation

ರಾಜನೇ! ಆ ಯುದ್ಧದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವನ ತೀಕ್ಷ್ಣ ಬಾಣಗಳಿಂದ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳ ಪ್ರಾಣಗಳು ಪರಲೋಕವನ್ನು ಸೇರಿದವು; ದೇಹಗಳು ಮಾತ್ರ ಭೂಮಿಗೆ ಬಿದ್ದುವು.

Word by Word

प्राणाःvital breaths, lives

प्राणभृताम्of living beings (life-bearers)

संख्येin battle

प्रेषितानिsent forth, impelled

शितैःby sharp

शरैःarrows

राजन्O king

प्रापुःreached, attained

अमुम्that (yonder)

लोकम्world, realm

शरीराणिbodies

अवनिम्the earth, ground

ययुःwent

राजन्O king

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

King (Dhṛtarāṣṭra, addressed as rājan)

arrows (śara)

earth (avanī)

the other world (amuṃ loka)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the separation between the perishable body (śarīra) and the departing life-breath (prāṇa) at death, highlighting the inevitability of mortality and the grave ethical burden carried by acts of killing in war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the king that, struck by keen arrows in the battlefield, warriors’ bodies fell to the ground while their lives departed to the other world—an image of the battlefield’s lethal finality.