Mahabharata · 7.26.24–25
॥
Devanāgarī
सर्ष्टिचर्मासिनखराः समुद्गरपरश्वधाः ॥
संछिन्ना बाहवः पेतुर् नृणां भल्लैः किरीटिना ॥
बालादित्याम्बुजेन्दूनां तुल्यरूपाणि मारिष ॥
संछिन्नान्य् अर्जुनशरैः शिरांस्य् उर्वीं प्रपेदिरे ॥
Transliteration (IAST)
sarṣṭicarmāsinakharāḥ samudgaraparaśvadhāḥ ||
saṃchinnā bāhavaḥ petur nṛṇāṃ bhallaiḥ kirīṭinā ||
bālādityāmbujendūnāṃ tulyarūpāṇi māriṣa ||
saṃchinnāny arjunaśaraiḥ śirāṃsy urvīṃ prapedire ||
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सर्ष्टिचर्मासिनखराःsarṣṭicarmāsinakharāḥwith ṛṣṭi-swords, shields, blades, and daggers; [with] swords, shields, blades, and daggers
समुद्गरपरश्वधाःsamudgaraparaśvadhāḥwith hammers and axes; [with] hammers and axes
संछिन्नाःsaṃchinnāḥsevered [cut off]; severed
बाहवःbāhavaḥarms; arms
पेतुःpetuḥfell [dropped]; fell
नृणाम्nṛṇāmof men [of warriors]; [of] warriors
भल्लैःbhallaiḥwith bhalla-arrows [broad-headed arrows]; with bhalla arrows
किरीटिनाkirīṭināby the Diademed One [Arjuna]; by the Diademed One
बालादित्याम्बुजेन्दूनाम्bālādityāmbujendūnāmof the young sun, lotus, and moon; of the young sun, lotus, and moon
तुल्यरूपाणिtulyarūpāṇisimilar in form [alike]; alike [in face]
मारिषmāriṣaO venerable one; O worthy one
संछिन्नानिsaṃchinnānisevered [cut off]; cut off
अर्जुनशरैःarjunaśaraiḥby Arjuna's arrows; by Arjuna's arrows
शिरांसिśirāṃsiheads; heads
उर्वीम्urvīm[onto] the ground; to the ground
प्रपेदिरेprapedirefell [descended]; fell
Translation
With swords, shields, blades and daggers, with hammers and axes, the severed arms of warriors fell -- struck down by the bhalla-arrows of the Diademed One. Alike in face to the young sun, the lotus, and the moon, O worthy one, heads severed by Arjuna's arrows fell to the ground.
Version
5a7cb9a7bfcc · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:11:21 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The severed heads of warriors are likened to the young sun, the lotus, and the moon -- the most beautiful and radiant of images. In this way the tradition reveals the bitterest beauty of the fallen: their faces, full of life and radiance, are cut off in the very bloom of youth. This comparison is not indifference but sorrowful reverence for perishing human beauty. It is significant that death and radiance are joined in a single image. The verse teaches that in every fallen warrior something beautiful and luminous perishes, like the sun, the lotus, the moon; that war cuts off not faceless lives but faces full of beauty; and that one who perceives the shining of a heavenly body in a severed head has not grown hardened but, on the contrary, feels acutely what beauty strife destroys -- and therefore can see in war nothing but the sorrowful loss of what was luminous.