Shloka 50
Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 19 — Saṃśaptaka–Trigarta Assault and Aindra-astra Counter
स पादशो राक्षसभोजनान् बहून् प्रदाय पाण्ड्यो5श्वमनुष्यकुञ्जरान् । स्वधामिवाप्य ज्वलनः पितृप्रिय- सतत: प्रशान्त: सलिलप्रवाहत:
sa pādaśo rākṣasa-bhojanān bahūn pradāya pāṇḍyo’śva-manuṣya-kuñjarān | svadhāmivāpya jvalanaḥ pitṛ-priyaḥ satataḥ praśāntaḥ salila-pravāhataḥ ||
सञ्जय उवाच—पाण्ड्यराजः पादशोऽश्वमनुष्यकुञ्जरान् छित्त्वा बहून् राक्षसभोजनान् प्रदाय। ततः अश्वत्थाम्ना शरेणाभिहतः सदा प्रशान्तोऽभवत्—यथा पितृप्रियः चिताग्निः शवमासाद्य ज्वलित्वा दग्ध्वा च, सलिलाभिषेकात् अन्ते प्रशाम्यति।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grim moral texture of war: even extraordinary martial ferocity culminates in inevitable stillness. The simile of the funeral fire suggests that violence ‘consumes’ until it is finally quenched—hinting at the transient, self-extinguishing nature of wrath and battle, and the inescapability of death.
Sañjaya describes the Pāṇḍya king’s fierce fighting—dismembering horses, men, and elephants and leaving abundant flesh as rākṣasa-food—until he is finally struck down by Aśvatthāmā’s arrow and becomes motionless, compared to a pyre-fire that blazes and then is extinguished by water.