तथान्यैर् विशिखैस् तूर्णं हेमपुङ्खैः शिलाशितैः ॥
जघानाश्वान् सपदातांस् तथोभौ पार्ष्णिसारथी ॥
ज्येष्ठस्य च शिरः कायात् क्षुरप्रेण न्यकृन्तत ॥
स पपात हतः पृथ्व्यां वातरुग्ण इव द्रुमः ॥
tathānyair viśikhais tūrṇaṃ hemapuṅkhaiḥ śilāśitaiḥ ||
jaghānāśvān sapadātāṃs tathobhau pārṣṇisārathī ||
jyeṣṭhasya ca śiraḥ kāyāt kṣurapreṇa nyakṛntata ||
sa papāta hataḥ pṛthvyāṃ vātarugṇa iva drumaḥ ||
So with other arrows, swiftly, golden-feathered, whetted on stone, he struck down the horses together with the foot-soldiers, and also both flank charioteers. And with a razor-arrow he sheared the elder brother's [Vinda's] head from his body; he fell, slain, to the ground, like a tree felled by the wind.
d2b2740ca895 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:52:56 PM UTC
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Vinda falls 'vātarugṇaḥ iva drumaḥ,' like a tree felled by the wind — a recurring image for a fallen warrior. Arjuna severs his head with a single razor-arrow: neither cruelty nor delay. It is significant that the death of a valiant foe is told briefly, without gloating. The verse teaches that righteous retribution does not gloat: it is carried out swiftly and without fury; and the fallen enemy, likened to a broken tree, is granted not mockery but an image of sorrow — for even in him life is honored, a life cut short by fate.