Shloka 11

Devanagari script

क्रुद्धा: क्रूरैर्महामात्रै: पाष्ण्यड्गुष्ठप्रचोदिता: । चतु:शता: शरवरैहता: पेतु: किरीटिना

Transliteration

kruddhāḥ krūraiḥ mahāmātraiḥ pāṣṇyaṅguṣṭha-pracoditāḥ | catuḥśatāḥ śaravarair hatāḥ petuḥ kirīṭinā ||

Translation

ಸಂಜಯನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ಕ್ರುದ್ಧರಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಕ್ರೂರ ಮಹಾಮಾತ್ರರಿಂದ ಪಾಷ್ಣಿ-ಅಂಗುಷ್ಠದ ಒತ್ತಡದಿಂದ ಹುರಿದುಂಬಿಸಲ್ಪಟ್ಟ ಆ ನಾಲ್ಕು ನೂರು (ಆನೆಗಳು) ಕಿರೀಟಧಾರಿ (ಅರ್ಜುನ)ನ ಬಾಣವರ್ಷದಿಂದ ಹೊಡೆತಪಟ್ಟು ನೆಲಕ್ಕುರುಳಿದವು.

Word by Word

क्रुद्धाःangered

क्रूरैःby cruel (ones)

महामात्रैःby great officers/commanders

पाष्ण्यङ्गुष्ठप्रचोदिताःurged on by heel-and-toe (spurring)

चतुःशताःfour hundred (in number)

शरवरैःby showers/volleys of arrows

हताःslain

पेतुःfell

किरीटिनाby the diademed one (Arjuna)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Kirīṭin (Arjuna)

mahāmātras (commanders/officers)

arrows (śara)

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 ethical cost of anger and coercive command: when leaders drive men forward through harshness, warriors become instruments of wrath and are quickly consumed by the violence they enter. It implicitly contrasts impulsive rage and forced momentum with the sobering consequences of battle.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that a body of four hundred fighters, urged on by their commanders, advanced in fury but were cut down by Kirīṭin (Arjuna) through intense volleys of arrows, and they fell on the battlefield.