Shloka 25
Nakula’s Engagement with Citra-sena and Karṇa’s Sons; Śalya Re-stabilizes the Kaurava Host
मातड्ढाश्चाप्यदृश्यन्त शरतोमरपीडिता: । पतन्तस्तत्र तत्रैव छिन्ना भ्रसदृशा रणे,रणभूमिमें बाणों और तोमरोंकी मारसे पीड़ित हो जहाँ-तहाँ गिरते हुए मतवाले हाथी भी कटे हुए बादलोंके समान दिखायी देते थे
mattaḍḍhāś cāpy adṛśyanta śaratomarapīḍitāḥ | patantas tatra tatraiva chinnā bhrasadṛśā raṇe ||
Sañjaya disse: Até mesmo os elefantes enfurecidos, atormentados por saraivadas de flechas e lanças tomara, eram vistos tombando aqui e ali no campo de batalha—decepados e espalhados, semelhantes a massas de nuvens rasgadas. A cena ressalta a força brutal e indiscriminada da guerra, em que até as criaturas mais poderosas são reduzidas à ruína no choque das armas.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the devastating reality of war: power and size offer no immunity from suffering. Ethically, it functions as a stark reminder of the cost of adharma-driven conflict and the fragility of embodied life amid violence.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra the battlefield scene where maddened war-elephants, struck by arrows and tomara-spears, fall in many places, severed and scattered, their broken forms compared to torn clouds.