सोत्प्लुत्य स्यन्दनात् तस्मान् नीलश् चर्मवरासिधृक् ॥
द्रोणायनेः शिरः कायाद् धर्तुम् ऐच्छत् पतत्रिवत् ॥
तस्योद्यतासेः सुनसं शिरः कायात् सकुण्डलम् ॥
भल्लेनापाहरद् द्रौणिः स्मयमान इवानघ ॥
संपूर्णचन्द्राभमुखः पद्मपत्रनिभेक्षणः ॥
प्रांशुर् उत्पलगर्भाभो निहतो न्यपतत् क्षितौ ॥
sotplutya syandanāt tasmān nīlaś carmavarāsidhṛk ||
droṇāyaneḥ śiraḥ kāyād dhartum aicchat patatrivat ||
tasyodyatāseḥ sunasaṃ śiraḥ kāyāt sakuṇḍalam ||
bhallenāpāharad drauṇiḥ smayamāna ivānagha ||
saṃpūrṇacandrābhamukhaḥ padmapatranibhekṣaṇaḥ ||
prāṃśur utpalagarbhābho nihato nyapatat kṣitau ||
Leaping down from that chariot, Nila, bearing shield and fine sword, wished to sever the head of Drona's son from his body, like a bird. But while he stood with sword raised, the son of Drona, smiling as it were, severed his comely head, together with its earrings, from his body with a bhalla-arrow, O blameless one. With a face like the full moon, with eyes like lotus petals, stately, the color of a blue lotus's core, struck down, he fell to the ground.
cd5750154f37 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:11:21 PM UTC
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Nila, sword raised, loses his head at the very instant of his own strike -- the one who has raised death against another is himself struck down before he can deal the blow. In this instantaneous reversal lies a stern truth of battle: the line between striker and struck is thinner than a moment. Ashvatthaman slays him "as if smiling" -- not out of cruelty, but with the master's composure, for whom even a mortal blow is a matter of habit. And once again the fallen warrior is likened to the moon and the lotus: the death of beauty is mourned in the image of beauty. The verse teaches that in battle the outcome is decided in an instant, and the one who raises the sword may fall before he brings it down; that a master's composure is fearsome precisely for its serenity; and that the tradition, seeing off the fallen with images of moon and lotus, grieves for every extinguished beauty without regard for which side it stood on.