Shloka 29
कर्णार्जुनयुद्ध-प्रवृत्तिः
Renewal of the Karṇa–Arjuna Engagement at Day’s End
जैसे वज्रोंकी वर्षासे पर्वत ढह जाते हैं, उसी प्रकार पाण्डव-सैनिकरूपी बादलोंद्वारा की हुई बाणोंकी वृष्टिसे आहत हो शत्रुओंके हाथीरूपी पर्वत धराशायी हो गये ।। एवं हत्वा तव गजांस्ते पाण्डुरथकुञ्जरा: । द्रुतां सेनामवैक्षन्त भिन्नकूलामिवापगाम्
evaṁ hatvā tava gajāṁs te pāṇḍu-ratha-kuñjarāḥ | drutāṁ senām avaikṣanta bhinna-kūlām ivāpagām ||
三阇耶说道：既已诛尽你的象军，那些般度的强悍战士——其势如白车所驾之雄象——便望见你的军队崩散奔逃，宛如河岸决裂、流水失束。此喻揭示：在战争中，即便最自负的力量（象兵）也会在集中技艺与决心的打击下倾覆；而一支失去凝聚的军队，也同时失去战略的根基与道义的立足。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the fragility of military might when cohesion and morale collapse: once the elephant corps is destroyed, the army’s confidence breaks, and the force disperses like a river after its banks are breached—suggesting that power without stability and discipline quickly becomes ruin.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the Pāṇḍava fighters have killed the Kauravas’ war-elephants; seeing this, the Kaurava army is viewed as fleeing and disintegrating, compared to a river whose banks have broken.