Shloka 15
Śalya-parva Adhyāya 26 — Duryodhana’s remnant formation and rapid engagements
ते हता न््यपतन् भूमौ स्वन्दनेभ्यो महारथा: । वसन्ते पुष्पशबला निकृत्ता इव किंशुका:
te hatā nyapatan bhūmau svandane-bhyo mahā-rathāḥ | vasante puṣpa-śabalā nikṛttā iva kiṃśukāḥ ||
سنجے نے کہا—تیر لگنے سے مارے گئے وہ مہارَتھی اپنے اپنے رتھوں سے زمین پر گر پڑے؛ جیسے بہار میں پھولوں سے لدے پلاش (کِمشُک) کے درخت کاٹ دیے جائیں تو ڈھیر ہو جاتے ہیں۔
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the fragility of worldly eminence: even celebrated warriors (mahārathas) can be brought down instantly. The spring-flowering kiṃśuka, beautiful yet easily felled, becomes a moral image for the impermanence of power and the sobering cost of war.
Sañjaya reports that the great chariot-warriors, struck by arrows, are killed and tumble from their chariots onto the ground. He intensifies the scene with a simile: they fall like blossom-laden palāśa trees cut down in spring.