Shloka 15
Śalya-parva Adhyāya 26 — Duryodhana’s remnant formation and rapid engagements
ते हता न््यपतन् भूमौ स्वन्दनेभ्यो महारथा: । वसन्ते पुष्पशबला निकृत्ता इव किंशुका:
te hatā nyapatan bhūmau svandane-bhyo mahā-rathāḥ | vasante puṣpa-śabalā nikṛttā iva kiṃśukāḥ ||
സഞ്ജയൻ പറഞ്ഞു—അമ്പുകളാൽ ഹതരായ ആ മഹാരഥന്മാർ തങ്ങളുടെ തങ്ങളുടെ രഥങ്ങളിൽ നിന്ന് ഭൂമിയിലേക്കു വീണു; വസന്തത്തിൽ പുഷ്പങ്ങളാൽ നിറഞ്ഞ പളാശ (കിംശുക) വൃക്ഷങ്ങൾ വെട്ടിവീഴുന്നതുപോലെ.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the fragility of worldly eminence: even celebrated warriors (mahārathas) can be brought down instantly. The spring-flowering kiṃśuka, beautiful yet easily felled, becomes a moral image for the impermanence of power and the sobering cost of war.
Sañjaya reports that the great chariot-warriors, struck by arrows, are killed and tumble from their chariots onto the ground. He intensifies the scene with a simile: they fall like blossom-laden palāśa trees cut down in spring.