Shloka 43
कर्णपर्व — पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः | Karṇa Parva, Chapter 15: Pāṇḍya’s Advance and Aśvatthāmā’s Counterstroke
भल्ल्लैश्छिन्ना: करा: पेतु: करिणां मदवर्षिणाम् । यथा वने परशुभिनिकित्ता: सुमहाद्रुमा:
bhallaiś chinnāḥ karāḥ petuḥ kariṇāṃ madavarṣiṇām | yathā vane paraśubhir nikṛttāḥ sumahādrumāḥ ||
三阇耶说道：那些发情狂奔、流着象酥的巨象，其长鼻被锋利的“婆罗”箭斩断，坠落于地。正如森林中参天大树被斧钺砍伐而轰然倒下，那些雄壮的象鼻也被一再截断，纷纷落在大地之上。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of embodied power: even the mightiest war-elephants fall when struck by skilled weaponry. It implicitly warns that pride in strength and martial grandeur is transient, and that war reduces living beings to objects of destruction.
Sañjaya describes a fierce moment in the battle where bhalla-arrows sever the trunks/fore-limbs of ichor-streaming elephants, causing them to collapse. He heightens the scene with a simile: like huge trees felled by axes in a forest.