Shloka 29
अध्याय ५३ — रणमेघोपमा सेना-वर्णना तथा सुषेण-वधोत्तर प्रतिक्रिया
Battle-as-Storm Imagery and the Aftermath of Suṣeṇa’s Fall
तच्छिर: प्रापतद् भूमौ श्येनाहृतमिवामिषम् | ततो<स्य कायो वसुधां पश्चात् प्रापतदच्युत,राजन्! वह सिर बाजके लाये हुए मांसके टुकड़ेके समान पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़ा। उसके बाद सुकेतुका धड़ भी धराशायी हो गया
tacchiraḥ prāpatad bhūmau śyenāhṛtam ivāmiṣam | tato 'sya kāyo vasudhāṃ paścāt prāpatad acyuta, rājan ||
Sañjaya said: “His severed head fell upon the earth like a morsel of flesh carried off by a hawk. Thereafter, O King, his body too collapsed and struck the ground.” The simile underscores the stark, impersonal violence of battle—life reduced to prey—while the address to the king frames the report as a grave moral witness to the costs of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse offers a sobering ethical lens on war: even heroic combat culminates in bodily ruin, and the narrator’s duty is truthful witnessing. The hawk-and-meat simile strips away glamour, reminding the listener (the king) of the human cost that dharma must reckon with.
Sañjaya reports a battlefield death: the warrior’s head is severed and falls to the ground, compared to a hawk carrying a piece of flesh; soon after, the body also collapses onto the earth.