Shloka 14

Devanagari script

हतारोहास्तथा नागाश्छिन्नहस्तास्तथापरे

Transliteration

hatārohās tathā nāgāś chinnahastās tathāpare

Translation

کچھ ہاتھی ایسے تھے جن کے سوار مارے جا چکے تھے، اور کچھ دوسرے گجراج ایسے بھی دکھائی دیے جن کے ہاتھ (سُونڈ) کاٹ دیے گئے تھے۔

Word by Word

• हतारोहाः: those whose riders are slain (riderless)
• हतारोहाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: हतारोह (हत + आरोह)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• तथा: thus/also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• नागाः: elephants
• नागाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नाग
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• छिन्नहस्ताः: with severed hands/trunks
• छिन्नहस्ताः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: छिन्नहस्त (छिन्न + हस्त)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• तथा: and also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• अपरे: others
• अपरे: Karta
• Type: Pronoun/Adjective
• Root: अपर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• nāgāḥ (war-elephants)
• āroha (riders/mahouts)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the catastrophic suffering produced by war: even powerful instruments of battle—war-elephants and their riders—are destroyed or maimed. Ethically, it functions as a stark reminder that victory pursued through violence carries immense collateral pain and loss.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya is describing the battlefield scene in the Śalya Parva: elephants are left riderless because their mounted warriors/mahouts have been killed, and other elephants are grievously mutilated, conveying the intensity and horror of the fighting.