Shloka 523

Devanagari script

वराड़मुर्व्यामपतच्चमूमुखे दिवाकरो<स्तादिव रक्तमण्डल: | अंजलिकसे कटा हुआ कर्णका वह मस्तक पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़ा। उसके बाद उसका शरीर भी धराशायी हो गया। जैसे लाल मण्डलवाला सूर्य अस्ताचलसे नीचे गिरता है, उसी प्रकार उदित सूर्यके समान तेजस्वी तथा शरत्कालीन आकाशके मध्यभागमें तपनेवाले भास्करके समान दुःसह वह मस्तक सेनाके अग्रभागमें पृथ्वीपर जा गिरा

Transliteration

varāḍam urvyām apatat camūmukhe divākaro 'stād iva raktamaṇḍalaḥ |

Translation

सैन्यस्याग्रे शरेण छिन्नं तस्य शिरो भूमौ पपात, रक्तमण्डलः सविता इवास्ताचलात् पतन्। ततः परं तस्य शरीरमपि धरातले न्यपतत्। उदितसूर्यसमतेजः शरत्कालाकाशमध्यतप्यमानभास्कर इव दुःसहं तत् शिरः सेनामुखे पृथिवीं प्राप।

Word by Word

वराटम्head/skull (as an object)

उर्व्याम्on the earth

अपतत्fell

चमूमुखेat/in the front of the army

दिवाकरःthe sun

अस्तात्from the setting (place), from the west

इवlike, as if

रक्तमण्डलःhaving a red disc/orb

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

the sun (Divākara)

earth (Urvī)

army front (Camūmukha)

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 highlights impermanence and the moral weight of war: even the most radiant and powerful must ‘set’ in time. The sun-simile frames a warrior’s fall as both inevitable and solemn, reminding the listener that glory in battle is transient and subject to destiny and the larger order (dharma).

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes a decisive battlefield moment: a severed head falls to the ground at the army’s forefront, and the body collapses afterward. The event is poetically compared to the red-disc sun descending at sunset, emphasizing the dramatic, irreversible end of a mighty presence in the fight.