Shloka 5
धृतराष्ट्रस्य युधिष्ठिरं प्रति व्यवहार-रक्षा-नियमनोपदेशः | Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Instruction on Administration, Punishment, and Daily Governance
द्रोणस्थ सोमदत्तस्य बाह्लीकस्य च धीमत: । पुत्राणां चैव सर्वेषां ये चान्ये सुहदो हता:
droṇastha somadattasya bāhlīkasya ca dhīmataḥ | putrāṇāṃ caiva sarveṣāṃ ye cānye suhṛdo hatāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: (There were) Droṇa’s son, Somadatta, and the wise Bāhlīka; and also all their sons, and other friends besides—those who had been slain. The passage recalls the heavy cost of the war: not only famed leaders but entire lineages and circles of friendship were cut down, underscoring the ethical weight of violence and the grief that follows it.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the far-reaching human cost of war: renowned warriors, elders, and even their sons and friends are remembered as slain. Ethically, it points to how violence spreads beyond the battlefield into families and communities, leaving enduring grief and moral reckoning.
Vaiśampāyana is recounting those who perished—naming prominent figures (Droṇa’s son/Aśvatthāman, Somadatta, Bāhlīka) and extending the remembrance to their sons and other friends who were killed—forming part of a broader recollection of the devastation after the Kurukṣetra war.