Mahabharata 7.166.35 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 166, Shloka 35
Aśvatthāmā’s Lamentation, Vow of Retaliation, and the Manifestation of the Nārāyaṇāstra (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय १६६)
पाण्डुपाञज्चालसैन्यानां कौरवाणां च भारत | आसीजक्निष्टानको घोरो निघ्नतामितरेतरम्
sañjaya uvāca |
pāṇḍupāñcālasainyānāṃ kauravāṇāṃ ca bhārata |
āsīj janisṭānako ghoro nighnatām itaretaram ||
সঞ্জয় বললেন—হে ভারত! একদিকে পাণ্ডব ও পাঞ্চাল সৈন্যদল এবং অন্যদিকে কৌরব যোদ্ধারা যখন পরস্পরকে নিধন করছিল, তখন চারিদিকে ভয়ংকর, হৃদয়বিদারক আর্তনাদ উঠেছিল।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the human cost of adharma-driven conflict: when armies abandon restraint and strike each other down indiscriminately, the battlefield becomes defined not by heroism but by the collective cry of suffering—an ethical warning about the consequences of unchecked violence.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the Pāṇḍava–Pāñcāla forces and the Kauravas are locked in fierce close combat, mutually killing and wounding; from this, a terrifying uproar of distress rises across the field.
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