कुरवस् तु ततः कर्णं परिवार्य समन्ततः ॥
अवाकिरन् भीमसेनं शरैः संनतपर्वभिः ॥
तान् बाणैः पञ्चविंशत्या साश्वान् राजन् नरर्षभान् ॥
ससूतान् भीमधनुषो भीमो निन्ये यमक्षयम् ॥
प्रापतन् स्यन्दनेभ्यस् ते सार्धं सूतैर् गतासवः ॥
चित्रपुष्पधरा भग्ना वातेनेव महाद्रुमाः ॥
kuravas tu tataḥ karṇaṃ parivārya samantataḥ ||
avākiran bhīmasenaṃ śaraiḥ saṃnataparvabhiḥ ||
tān bāṇaiḥ pañcaviṃśatyā sāśvān rājan nararṣabhān ||
sasūtān bhīmadhanuṣo bhīmo ninye yamakṣayam ||
prāpatan syandanebhyas te sārdhaṃ sūtair gatāsavaḥ ||
citrapuṣpadharā bhagnā vāteneva mahādrumāḥ ||
"The Kurus then, having surrounded Karna from all sides, showered Bhimasena with arrows of smooth joints. Those bulls among men, with their horses and charioteers, Bhima, he of the terrible bow, dispatched to the abode of Yama with twenty-five arrows, o king. They fell from their chariots together with their charioteers, lifeless, like great trees bearing brilliant blossoms, broken by the wind."
f9bdf38d2f7e · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:17:34 PM UTC
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Twenty-five men, with their horses and charioteers, fall at once, like flowering trees under a storm: an image of beauty broken in its bloom. It is notable that what destroys them is not weakness but disproportion -- a swarm against one unconquerable. The verse teaches that to hurl oneself in numbers against one who is stronger is not valor but useless death; and war, like a storm, fells even what is in flower, sparing neither youth nor beauty.