Shloka 15
ते हेमपुड्खैरिषुभिरददिता हेममालिन: । हताः पेतुर्महानागा: साग्निज्वाला इवाद्रय:
te hemapuḍkhair iṣubhir adaditā hemamālinaḥ | hatāḥ petur mahānāgāḥ sāgnijvālā ivādrayaḥ ||
سونے کے پَر والے تیروں سے ستائے ہوئے وہ زرّیں ہار پہنے عظیم جنگی ہاتھی مارے گئے اور آگ کی لپٹوں میں لپٹے پہاڑوں کی مانند زمین پر گر پڑے۔
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tragic irony of war: even the most magnificent and powerful beings—elephant-lords adorned with gold—are reduced to lifeless ruin. It implicitly warns that worldly splendor and strength are fragile when driven into adharma-filled violence, and that battle consumes both beauty and life.
Sañjaya describes a battlefield scene where great elephants, ornamented with gold, are struck and tormented by gold-adorned arrows. They are killed and collapse to the ground, compared poetically to mountains blazing with fire.