Shloka 43
सुषुपुस्तत्र राजेन्द्र युक्ता वाहेषु सर्वश: । एवं हयाश्ष नागाश्न योधाश्ष भरतर्षभ । युद्धाद् विरम्य सुषुपु: श्रमेण महतान्विता
suṣupus tatra rājendra yuktā vāheṣu sarvaśaḥ | evaṃ hayāś ca nāgāś ca yodhāś ca bharatarṣabha | yuddhād viramya suṣupuḥ śrameṇa mahatānvitāḥ ||
सञ्जय उवाच—राजेन्द्र, तत्र सर्वशो वाहेषु युक्ता एव सुषुपुः। एवं हयाश्च नागाश्च योधाश्च भरतर्षभ, युद्धाद् विरम्य महता श्रमेणाभिभूताः सुषुपुः॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the inevitable limits of embodied beings: war consumes strength until even victors and beasts collapse into sleep. Ethically, it points to the pervasive cost of violence—suffering is not confined to combatants but extends to animals and all who are bound to the machinery of war.
Sañjaya reports to the king that, after ceasing from battle, the warriors along with horses and elephants lay down and slept on the spot, many still harnessed, all overcome by intense fatigue.