Shloka 88
Bhagadattā’s Deployment Against Ghaṭotkaca; Elephant-Corps Escalation
इति श्रीमहा भारते भीष्मपर्वणि भीष्मवधपर्वणि सुनाभादिधृतराष्ट्रपुत्रवधे अष्टाशीतितमो<ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate bhīṣmaparvaṇi bhīṣmavadhaparvaṇi sunābhādidhṛtarāṣṭraputravadhe aṣṭāśītitamo 'dhyāyaḥ
So endet im ehrwürdigen Mahābhārata, im Bhīṣma Parva—insbesondere im Abschnitt über die Tötung Bhīṣmas—das achtundachtzigste Kapitel, das die Tötung Sunābhas und weiterer Söhne Dhṛtarāṣṭras schildert. Dieses Kolophon bezeichnet den Abschluss einer Erzähleinheit, in der die moralische Schwere des Krieges durch den Fall königlicher Erben und das unerbittliche Voranschreiten des Schicksals auf dem Schlachtfeld hervorgehoben wird.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the verse does not teach through direct instruction; it frames the ethical weight of the war narrative by formally closing a chapter centered on deaths among Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons, reminding the reader of the irreversible consequences of adharma-driven conflict and the tragic cost borne by royal lineages.
This is the chapter-ending colophon: Sañjaya’s narration marks the conclusion of the eighty-eighth chapter within Bhīṣma Parva, in the sub-section dealing with Bhīṣma’s slaying, and notes that the chapter’s content included the killing of Sunābha and other sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.