Shloka 22

Devanagari script

पतद्धिश्न महाराज शिरोभिर्धरणीतले । बभूव तुमुल: शब्द: पततामश्मनामिव,महाराज! भूतलपर पटापट गिरते हुए मस्तकोंका आकाशसे पृथ्वीपर पड़नेवाले पत्थरोंके समान भयंकर शब्द हो रहा था

Transliteration

patad dhiṣṇya mahārāja śirobhir dharaṇītale | babhūva tumulaḥ śabdaḥ patatām aśmanām iva, mahārāja! |

Translation

മഹാരാജാ! ഭൂമിയിൽ പതിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരുന്ന തലകളാൽ ഭീകരമായ ഒരു മുഴക്കം ഉയർന്നു; അത് ആകാശത്തിൽ നിന്ന് കല്ലുകൾ വീഴുന്ന ശബ്ദംപോലെ ആയിരുന്നു.

Word by Word

पतद्भिःby the falling (ones/things)

हindeed

महाराजO king

शिरोभिःby/with heads

धरणीतलेon the surface of the earth

बभूवarose/was

तुमुलःterrific, tumultuous

शब्दःsound

पतताम्of the falling (ones/things)

अश्मनाम्of stones

इवlike, as if

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Mahārāja (Dhṛtarāṣṭra)

heads (śiras)

earth/ground (dharaṇī-tala)

stones (aśman)

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 underscores the brutal reality and moral cost of war: even when framed within kṣatriya duty, battle produces horrifying destruction, and the narrative forces the listener to confront the consequences rather than romanticize combat.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the battlefield at a moment of intense slaughter: severed heads are falling to the ground, and the impact creates a deafening, stone-like crashing sound, conveying the scale and terror of the fighting.