Shloka 3536

Devanagari script

निपपात महेष्वासो वज्जाहत इवाचल: । राजन! इस प्रकार महायुद्धमें दो टुकड़ोंमें कटा हुआ कवचसहित महाथनुर्धर केकयराज वच्जके मारे हुए पर्वतके समान गिर पड़ा

Transliteration

nipapāta maheṣvāso vajrāhata ivācalaḥ | rājan! iti prakāraṃ mahāyuddhe dvi-ṭukḍeṣu chinnaḥ kavaca-sahitaḥ mahā-dhanurdharaḥ kekaya-rājaḥ vajrake māritaḥ parvata iva nipapāta |

Translation

ສັນຊະຍະກ່າວວ່າ: «ຂ້າແຕ່ພະຣາຊາ, ໃນສົງຄາມໃຫຍ່ນັ້ນ ນັກທະນູຜູ້ກ້າແຂງ—ກະສັດແຫ່ງເກກະຍະ—ຍັງສວມເກາະຢູ່ ຖືກຟັນເປັນສອງທ່ອນ ແລ້ວລົ້ມລົງດັ່ງພູທີ່ຖືກຟ້າຜ່າ»។

Word by Word

निपपातfell down

महेष्वासःthe great archer

वज्राहतःstruck by a thunderbolt

इवlike/as

अचलःa mountain

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'rājan')

Kekaya king

armor (kavaca)

thunderbolt (vajra)

mountain (acala/parvata)

great battle (mahāyuddha)

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 impermanence of martial glory: even a heavily armored, renowned archer can be destroyed in an instant. Ethically, it functions as a sobering reminder of the cost of war and the fragility of embodied power, even when exercised under the banner of kṣatriya-dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that, amid the great battle, the Kekaya king—an eminent bowman—has been cut into two and falls to the ground, compared to a mountain felled by a thunderbolt.