Shloka 24
Devanagari script
गिरिरूपधराश्चापि पतिता: कुज्जरोत्तमा:
Transliteration
girirūpadharāś cāpi patitāḥ kuñjarottamāḥ
Translation
सञ्जय उवाच—गिरिरूपधराश्चापि पतिताः कुञ्जरोत्तमाः।
Word by Word
गिरिरूपधराःhaving the form/appearance of mountains
गिरिरूपधराः:
Karta
TypeAdjective
Rootगिरिरूपधर
FormMasculine, Nominative, Plural
चand
च:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootच
अपिalso/even
अपि:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootअपि
पतिताःfallen
पतिताः:
Karta
TypeAdjective
Rootपतित
FormMasculine, Nominative, Plural
कुञ्जरोत्तमाःthe best of elephants
कुञ्जरोत्तमाः:
Karta
TypeNoun
Rootकुञ्जरोत्तम
FormMasculine, Nominative, Plural
Speaker
संजय उवाच
Characters & Entities
S
SañjayaE
elephants (kuñjarāḥ)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
The verse underscores the fragility of worldly power: even beings that seem immovable—like mountain-bodied elephants—can be brought down in the chaos of war, reminding the listener of impermanence and the heavy cost of violence.
Sañjaya is describing the battlefield scene in Droṇa Parva: amid intense fighting, mighty elephants—likened to mountains for their size and strength—are struck down and fall, emphasizing the scale and ferocity of the combat.