Shloka 69

भीष्मस्य मध्याह्नयुद्धवर्णनम् / Mid-day Battle Description: Bhīṣma Engaged by the Pāñcālas

Devanagari script

घण्टाभिश्न गजेन्द्राणां पतिताभि: समन्तत:

Transliteration

ghaṇṭābhis tu gajendrāṇāṃ patitābhiḥ samantataḥ | pṛṣṭheṣu ca gajānāṃ vai citrāḥ kambalapaṭṭikāḥ | aṅkuśāś ca nipatitāḥ sarvataḥ paridṛśyante | nānāvidhāni cābharaṇāni hemarajjuś ca tatra-tatra vikīrṇāḥ ||

Translation

三阇耶说道：四周尽是象王坠落的铃铛。象背上铺设的彩毯已被撕裂，驱象的钩杖也散落遍地；各色颈饰与金绳亦零零落落，抛掷于此处彼处。

Word by Word

• घण्टाः: bells
• घण्टाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: घण्टा
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• भिन्नाः: broken, shattered
• भिन्नाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: भिद्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural, Past passive participle (क्त)

• गजेन्द्राणाम्: of the lordly elephants
• गजेन्द्राणाम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: गजेन्द्र
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• पतिताभिः: having fallen; with (them) fallen
• पतिताभिः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पत्
• Form: Feminine, Instrumental, Plural, Past active participle (क्तवतु/क्त) used adjectivally

• समन्ततः: on all sides, all around
• समन्ततः: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: समन्ततः
• Form: true

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• gajendrāḥ (great elephants)
• ghaṇṭāḥ (elephant bells)
• kambalāḥ/paṭṭikāḥ (saddle-blankets)
• aṅkuśāḥ (goads)
• ābharaṇāni (ornaments)
• hemarajju (golden ropes)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the impermanence of power and splendor: symbols of royal might (elephants, ornaments, golden ropes) and instruments of control (goads) lie broken and scattered, reminding the listener that war reduces status and display to ruin and calls for sober ethical reflection.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the battlefield scene after intense fighting: elephant bells, torn saddle-blankets, goads, and ornaments are strewn everywhere, indicating fallen elephants and the collapse of ordered martial formations.