Shloka 12

Devanagari script

येन नागायुतप्राणो भीमसेनो महाबल: । मानुषेणैव युद्धेन तामवस्थां प्रवेशित:,“जिसने दस हजार हाथियोंके समान बलवाले महाबली भीमसेनको मानवन-युद्धके द्वारा ही वैसी दुरवस्थामें डाल दिया था

Transliteration

yena nāgāyuta-prāṇo bhīmaseno mahābalaḥ | mānuṣeṇaiva yuddhena tām avasthāṁ praveśitaḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya berkata: “Dialah yang telah menjatuhkan Bhīmasena yang perkasa—yang kekuatannya bagaikan sepuluh ribu gajah—ke dalam keadaan sehina itu, dan itu pun hanya dengan pertempuran manusia semata-mata.”

Word by Word

येनby whom/whereby

नागायुतप्राणःhaving the strength of ten-thousand elephants

भीमसेनःBhimasena (Bhima)

महाबलःvery strong

मानुषेणby human (means)

एवindeed/only

युद्धेनby battle/fighting

ताम्that (state)

अवस्थाम्condition/state

प्रवेशितःwas made to enter/was brought into

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Bhīmasena (Bhīma)

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 extraordinary martial capability achieved through purely human effort—emphasizing that even a near-mythic warrior like Bhīma can be reduced to helplessness by superior skill and strategy within the accepted norms of human combat, raising reflection on power, vulnerability, and the ethics of battlefield conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes to Dhṛtarāṣṭra a warrior who has already forced the immensely strong Bhīma into a dire condition, stressing that this was done not by divine intervention but through straightforward human fighting.