Shloka 43
ब्राह्मणपूजा-राजधर्मः | Royal Duty of Honoring Learned Brahmins
कृत्तोत्तमाड़ास्ते राजन् भल्लै: शतसहस्रशः । अपततन् रुधिरार्द्राज़ा निकृत्ता इव किंशुका:,राजन! भल्लोंकी मारसे उनके मस्तकोंके सैकड़ों और हजारों टुकड़े हो गये थे। उनके सारे अंग खूनसे लथपथ हो गये और वे कटे हुए पलाशके वृक्षकी भाँति धरतीपर गिर पड़े
bhīṣma uvāca | kṛttottamāḍāste rājan bhallaiḥ śata-sahasraśaḥ | apatan rudhirārdrāṅgā nikṛttā iva kiṃśukāḥ ||
Bhishma said: “O King, struck by broad-headed arrows, their heads were hewn into hundreds and thousands of pieces. With limbs drenched in blood, they fell to the earth like kiṃśuka (palāśa) trees cut down.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grim reality of warfare: even the mighty fall when violence is unleashed. In the Mahābhārata’s ethical horizon, such imagery serves as a sobering reminder of the cost of conflict and the fragility of embodied life, tempering heroic ideals with awareness of suffering.
Bhishma describes a battlefield scene where warriors are struck by bhalla arrows; their heads are severed into innumerable pieces, their bodies soaked in blood, and they collapse to the ground like felled palāśa (kiṃśuka) trees.