Shloka 44
Bhīmasena’s Kalinga Engagement and the Approach of Bhīṣma (भीमसेन-कालिङ्ग-संग्रामः)
निष्कूजा: समपद्यन्त दृढसत्त्वा महाबला: । धैर्यको दृढ़तापूर्वक धारण किये रहनेवाले दूसरे महाबली वीर बाणोंके आघातसे पीड़ित हो क्लेश सहन करते हुए भी मौन ही रहते थे--अपनी वेदना प्रकाशित नहीं करते थे ।।
sañjaya uvāca | niṣkūjāḥ samapadyanta dṛḍhasattvā mahābalāḥ | anye ca virathāḥ śūrā ratham anyasya saṃyuge mahārāja |
三阇耶说道：那些大力勇士，心志坚固，默然承受打击；纵被箭矢射中，也不呼号，不显露痛楚。另有一些——战车被击碎的勇者——在混战中坠地，呼求他人的战车；然而未及救援，便被巨象的铁蹄踏碎。其身躯血污遍染，肿胀撕裂，竟如盛放的婆罗娑（palāśa）之花一般夺目——以可怖之美映照战争的惨烈。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights endurance and restraint under suffering as a warriorly virtue, while simultaneously exposing the brutal, indiscriminate destruction of war—suggesting that even dutiful courage (kṣatriya-dharma) unfolds within a tragic moral landscape.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield: some powerful fighters bear arrow-wounds without crying out, while others whose chariots are destroyed fall and seek another chariot but are trampled by elephants; their bloodied bodies are compared to palāśa blossoms.