Shloka 29

Devanagari script

क्षुण्णगात्रा महाराज विक्षिप्य च पुन: पुनः । अपरे व्यजनानीव विकश्राम्य निहता मृथे,कितने ही योद्धा हाथियोंद्वारा पकड़े जाकर उनके दाँतोंसे ही मार डाले गये। महाराज! बहुत-से विशालकाय गजराज सेनाके भीतर घुसकर कितने ही पैदलोंको सहसा पकड़कर उनके शरीरोंको बारंबार पटक-झटककर चूर-चूर कर देते और कितनोंको व्यजनोंके समान घुमाकर युद्धमें मार डालते थे

Transliteration

kṣuṇṇagātrā mahārāja vikṣipya ca punaḥ punaḥ | apare vyajanānīva vikāśrāmya nihatā mṛdhe ||

Translation

सञ्जय उवाच—महाराज, केचित् क्षुण्णगात्रा योद्धारो गजैर्गृहीत्वा पुनः पुनर्विक्षिप्य निहता मृधे। अपरे तु व्यजनानीव परिभ्राम्य रणाङ्गणे निपातिताः। बहवो महागजा सेनामध्ये प्रविश्य पदातीन् सहसा गृहीत्वा देहान् वारं वारं पातयित्वा चूर्णयन्ति, केचन च व्यजनवत् परिभ्राम्य युद्धे जघ्नुः।

Word by Word

क्षुण्णगात्राःwith crushed bodies / crushed-limbed

महाराजO great king

विक्षिप्यhaving tossed/whirled

चand

पुनःagain

अपरेothers

व्यजनानिfans

इवlike/as if

विकश्राम्यhaving made (them) rest/settle; having swung about (contextual)

निहताःslain

मृथेin battle

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by 'mahārāja')

warriors (unspecified combatants)

battlefield (mṛdha)

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

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the dehumanizing brutality of war: once battle is unleashed, bodies are treated as objects to be crushed, flung, and whirled. It implicitly warns that even when framed as kṣatriya duty, warfare carries grave ethical cost and widespread suffering.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to the king that in the fighting, some warriors are repeatedly seized and hurled, their limbs crushed; others are swung around ‘like hand-fans’ and killed. It is a vivid battlefield image of combatants being violently tossed and slain.