Shloka 37
अध्याय २६ — शल्यस्य सारथ्य-नियोजनं, कर्णस्य प्रस्थानं, उत्पातदर्शनं च
Chapter 26: Śalya appointed as charioteer; Karṇa’s departure; portents
हस्तिभि: पतितैश्वैव तुरज्ञैश्चाभवन्मही
hastibhiḥ patitaiś caiva turaṅgaiś cābhavan mahī
Sañjaya said: The earth became strewn and choked with the fallen—elephants and horses alike—showing how the fury of battle reduces even the mightiest war-beasts to lifeless heaps and turns the battlefield into a grim testimony of destruction.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark cost of war: power and grandeur (war-elephants, swift horses) are impermanent, and violence leaves the earth itself burdened—inviting reflection on restraint, responsibility, and the tragic weight of kṣatriya conflict.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield scene where numerous elephants and horses have been struck down, so that the ground is covered with their fallen bodies, intensifying the sense of carnage in the Karṇa Parva battle.